Always survey your surroundings, to include who is around you. Your D3000 is an older piece of equipment, but it still has value. And on that note, know that it is not the camera that makes a great photographer. It's the photographer that knows how to use his tools - camera, software, composing a shot, etc...
One of the photographers on here, Don Kuykendall, is the perfect example of it being the photographer and not the camera. When he just had his D5100, combined with his know how, I was always blown away at how he could make that camera overachieve with superior images than others with equipment far exceeding Don's. Of course good equipment does make it easier, but it's not the key to great photography.
On that note of improving the photographer, on this forum we have a project 365 area. That is where you take a photo everyday and post it. There are many on here, including myself, that will tell you doing a 365 is the best fastest way to improve you photography. It forces you to truly know your equipment when you handle it every day. Sure the year has started, but there is no reason why you couldn't get started as of today. Think about it.
Heading out to go shoot a haunted lake in the dark... oooh scary! Hoping the moonlight will light it up well and that the moon is far enough over so that I can get the stars over the Rocky Mountains. May be a complete failure, but I'll never know until I try it.
