Of course it's alright to not get everything right the first time.
I think the problem here is that you are misunderstanding Draco18s' tone. Draco is a fun and helpful person who spend a lot of his time on the forum answering others' question. His occasional sarcasm keeps the conversation in a light mood, but might sometimes appear to be unfriendly (which is definitely not his intention) to people who are not used to his way of speaking, in which case all I could say is "don't take it personally; he doesn't mean that; he is trying to help you".
As for your problem, you should not directly use the meta of a blockstate to get the direction it is facing, as the meta of a blockstate might not directly convert to its corresponding EnumFacing (some blocks stores more than just an EnumFacing value in its meta). Instead, you should use the FACING property of the blockstate, which, if exists, always directly tells you the facing of the block. It is also faster and more readable.