deadlycomputer

well, I was able to make a custom function to do what i wanted:

function nextLinks($tp)
{
	$wp2 = array();
	$i=0;
	$pOrder = array(
			'category_name'         =>	'work',
			'orderby'		=>	'title',
			'order'			=>	'ASC',
			'nopaging'		=>	true,
			'posts_count'	=>	5
				);
	$workPosts = get_posts($pOrder);
	foreach($workPosts as $wpost)
	{
		$pid = $wpost->ID;
		$wp2[$i] = $pid;
		$i++;
	}
	$pnum = array_search($tp,$wp2);

	if($pnum-1 >= 0)
	{
		$pre = '<a href="'.get_permalink($wp2[$pnum-1]).'" title="'.get_the_title($wp2[$pnum-1]).'" class="floatLeft"><'.get_the_title($wp2[$pnum-1]).'</a>';
	}
	if($pnum+1 < count($wp2))
	{
		$nxt = '<a href="'.get_permalink($wp2[$pnum+1]).'" title="'.get_the_title($wp2[$pnum+1]).'" class="rightArrow">'.get_the_title($wp2[$pnum+1]).'></a>';
	}
	echo $pre . $nxt;
}

if there’s a simpler, or built in way to do what i want i’d love to know

simple php substring maniuplation
php.net

i resolved the problem, turns out it was a permission error on my server.

I agree, a “learner theme” would be a good addition to wordpress.
While i consider my knowledge of css, php, & html, full to advanced, it’s always easier to make modifications if you have something to follow.