Hi Seth. I am glad you are taking an interest in the art of microscopy. I use the heavy duty stuff, but a good microscope can be found second hand. I have Carl Seiss model, and this is great for optics. I would get a 'starter' microscope first, then see how it goes. You can lose interest quickly, because of the time and stuff involved in everyday practice. Plus, it can be very boring after a while. My investments will hover around ten grand by the year end, but, I need the precision for sharing images, and doing certain analytical work.
It is like astronomy, in that, you start simple and work up.
The micro-world can be a freaky place, and becomes more interesting once your familiar with the players [bacteria, microbes etc].

In the beginning, you will see a lot of normal stuff that will be freaky and this can be confusing. If you have not seen my website
http://www.ummicrographic.com
check it out. It has a collection of micrographs of all sorts of weird things I find.

I also has interesting clips on YouTube under my account name mualfa 123
Shroom