Thank god for the archives @ all of the big communties like 100X100_brushes and icon_tutorial, which I've been raiding for years now. Thank god also for the big notepad file I kept track of all of this crap in before making this post. Now nobody will beat me with a big stick.. hopefully. Oh, I'd also like to give props to whomever it was that originally came up with the concept of textures, which I use more than anything else. I think you are a genius.
Thanks to the following for their brushes, textures, gradients, etc..