Took me five hours, but got the valve cover gasket, cam seal, and cap done on the driver's side. Could not get at the CCT gasket; timing belt cover would not come off, and the little piece that the cam chain sits on decided to break off a bit. Got it back in there, and released the tool, and it's sitting tight now. Cam seal & cap were the easiest part of the whole thing. Cap was super loose when I took it out, bet that's where the smoke was coming from. Cleaned the heck out of the valve cover, got all of the gunk out of it (surprisingly there wasn't much, just some carbon and some globs), used the sealant where I was supposed to, and got the cover torqued back on. Now we wait until tomorrow morning when I start him up and see where I screwed up, if I did. Cam chain didn't move a tooth so there's that. Oh, also the stupid plastic clamp thing on the PCV broke. It's in there and not going anywhere, but I'll have to do something about it I'm sure.
Was planning to do both sides today, but I'm slap out of brake cleaner (not to mention patience) and too proud to go ask the neighbor for some; also I'm dead tired. 52-year-old woman can only do so much in one day.