Without the 555 how can we have such fun make contests? The original www.555contest.com by Chris Gammell and Jeri Ellsworth (2011) had a tremendous response. 11 years later Hackaday held one with very creative entries. If you enter a contest you'll be forced out of your comfort zone (programming with solder) and will appreciate MCU's even more when you're done!
If you're lucky you'll get a phone call from (the late) Hans Camenzind as I did in 2011. And maybe you'll invent something goofy, like "Le Dominoux": https://youtu.be/PQOjkuJtBfM?si=Np2MSKgAp4ULwzcl