:!exec emacs -nw

while in command mode" posts yet), and I'm having similar trouble resisting the temptation to name "install vim" as the best hint for anyone who's learnt a little vi and is sick to death of arrow keys not working correctly in insert mode and so forth. So I'll only do that pa(ren)thetically.)

Given all that... maybe a couple of little tiplets?

Instead of / and enter as "find next", simply use "n".

Including the output of a command in your file is quite fun: eg, to insert the date:

:r!date

or :r!cal for a minicalendar.

And so forth.