Am I Ready or Not? If not, how long?

I see pictures focused on sugar leaves. Only assess trichomes on the calyxes - the 'pods' with the 2 hairs sticking out. glass (unripe) vs plastic clear vs smokey amber showing? These are signs of maturity or even degredation. Some degerdation is likely a point where the overal average top-to-bottom is optimal. These beliefs are probably close to reality, but not written in stone. Do you want 5% amber? 50%? So many factors go into this and many of them are personal preference. Experiment.. try early, middle and late harvests and figure out what you want. Take that leap... only you can figure it out.