Hey Tim!
The a55 is an awesome cam. I know a pro shooter who loves his, and he is an advertising guy, so to me that is saying something. It is similar to what I am using. I shoot mostly micro 4/3 now, and because of it, I feel like I am in love with photography again....or rather they suit my style of shooting better. I own a couple of true DSLR cameras, but honestly, they don't shoot as well (for me) as the two m4/3 cameras that I have. My two bodies are an Olympus E-PL1 and a Panasonic GH2. They are a lot like the Sony A series cameras in that they are an alternative mirror system. They also offer an auto focus with their native lenses (which I use a lot doing candid photography when my subject doesn't stay still when I ask them ;D ). They also will do full MF which all of the above were shot with.
I have found in the lenses that I shoot, that 10mm is about the sweet spot as far as the wide angle increment goes. If you can find one at f2.0 or below you will have an awesome lens. They will probably be pricey at that f range though. I love shooting wide angle, and find myself using it more than most, just because of the offered perspective that it gives. The one I use is an f4.0, and it it crisp edge to edge. Anything below 9mm starts looking fisheye, which is cool, but it's kind of gimmicky for everyday use. Recently I bought the 20mm fixed zoom f1.7 pancake and I'm telling you man, it is the business. It has a minimum focus distance of somewhere in the neighborhood of 2.5", so macros are perfect and crisp along with beautiful de-focused bokeh behind the macro subject. But then the focal length will become sharp when shooting more of a panorama too which makes it awesome for everyday shooting and walk around photography. You've already started getting used to the lack of insane focus length, so using your feet to do the zooming is really just another step to me. The beauty of it is that it is FAST. The only downfall to these "alternative mirror" cameras to me is the low light difficulty that it has, but a super fast lens below the 2.0 range will completely fix the problem. It was a revelation to me to find that out.
I'd love to see some of what you shoot man. Photography these days has fallen into a close second to bikes in the things that I have fallen in love with. There is just something about the perspective of the world it gives you. The world just seems to become more beautiful.
The next lens I buy will be something in the 75-300 range, as my kit lense is the longest I have at 45, and sometimes you just need the distance, I'm jealous! Are you using adapted lenses or are all of yours a particular mount? I'm not familiar with what mount the A series cameras use. So far everything I have bought has been native, but I'm considering branching out into full manual lenses since I have been using that most lately anyway, and the lenses can be had for MUCH cheaper.