it seems the top sequence window and clip window are fighting for attention:
when i cut, copy/paste (insert) into the timeline, sometimes it grabs the video and audio from the sequence window, and others times, from the clip window.
also, if i reverse a clip i've pasted, sometimes it reverses the video from the clip window, but the audio is a reverse of the sequence window. and, sometimes what the pasted image shows is different from what it is when it plays.
i thought it was a matter of which window was in focus, but only the sequence window stays focused. my assumption was that whatever showed on the timeline, then the copied information should stay the same, regardless of what was in the sequence window.
the sequence window itself is kind of a mystery to me, since the start/end points sometimes point the wrong way, and what i select doesn't always get put on the timeline like i think.