I Need a Project...

[Note: This post is just a brainstorm session. I apologize for the run-on sentences and possibly confusing flow, but I wanted to just pour out my ideas in the exact manner in which I think.]

I'm back from Fall break and getting ready to dive back into classes here at RIT for the Winter. I'll be taking classes in Wireless Networking, Databases, Computer Crime, and Sociology. I'm looking forward to a great quarter, but at the same time, I need a project. Not something for school, just a regular personal project. I'm still continuing to learn a lot about web application firewalls, and I'm thinking something along those lines, but maybe from a different approach. Brainstorming now:

I've been working on a number of Perl scripts for competition-based hack and defend scenarios. Scripts that lock users out, watch for un-authorized users to a system, etc. I can keep doing that, but I need a more detailed project.

I need to improve my PHP skills. I'm thinking about a vulnerable web app that teaches exploitation. That way it will help me, since I need to code the site and purposefully add vulnerabilities, and then I can secure it with a WAF when I'm done. But Damn Vulnerable Web App already exists. But it's not that detailed, only a few pages and very basic exploits. I'm thinking of something that can be more of a learning experience, something with step-by-step walkthroughs and demos of exploitable security flaws. It should also show the code/techniques necessary to protect against that vulnerability as well. I like this idea. 

I'm trying to think of other ideas, but I keep coming back to a vulnerable web app / tutorial / teaching guide. There really needs to be a good, solid guide to web application vulnerabilities that lets the user see exactly what is happening. I think I'm going to run with this. To the drawing board!