I'd suggest jumping back into a Sky Raider Mk I for a while. It's a very capable plane and you can still learn a lot from it. It will handle the basic pattern routine with no problem. The Mk I is capable of any aerobatic maneuver that your Big Stick is capable of doing, and its a plane you are familiar with.

As was suggested before, what ever plane you fly, take it up high and work on basic stalls straight ahead. Stalls a very simple to do and you should have been shown not only how to stall and recover, but also how to get out of a spin in your basic training. I consider spin training a mandatory requirement before I let a student off the trainer chord - if you can't enter and exit a spin, it'll rear its ugly head and bit you before you know it. I've seen many very experience pilots of advanced pattern contest caliber get lax on their approach, stall and spin their pattern planes in, so it can happen to the best. If your not comfortable in working on stalls/spins by your self, then by all means go back on the buddy box for a flight or two with an instructor and learn how to get in and out of a spin. After a few times you'll come to love doing 3, 4, 5, or even 10 turn spins and come out on exactly the same heading you entered it.

And follow Bruce's go-around technique: Add power, maintain heading and altitude until airspeed is built up, then start turning. Bank at a low airspeed just leads to an accelerated stall and the classic stall/spin/crash & burn maneuver. [:'(][&o]

Hogflyer

edit: On any plane I haven't flown before, be it a new one or a students - I like to do at least a couple of stalls and some slow flight to make sure I don't see any nasty surprises when I'm least expecting it. I also like to practice slow flight right on the edge of a stall, even to the point of bobbing into a stall and recovering I'm that close to the edge. I also practice snap rolls and spins on most of my flights unless I'm just shooting landings or instructing. With experience you'll learn to feel when a plane is on the edge of a stall and avoid actually entering one.