You are all Motorbike GODS! Thank you soooo much!
I put in a new spark plug with the correct gap and cleaned out the air filter which luckily only had a little oil on the outside but the drain tube for the air was completely full of oil. I will probably get another air filter anyway for good measure since I have the mileage on my bike according to pdf manual I got from this site (Thank you for that too!).
The bike is no longer revving on its own, the mild puffs of black smoke that came out of the muffler with the regular emissions is completely gone and while standing still, there is no sputtering. I'm about to take a short short ride to test the shifting and if that's good, I'll make it a longer ride.
In less than one week being allowed to ride at night, I've had to ride in the rain and have the bike die on me.

lol
I think I've learned a very valuable lesson and have paid off some of my bike karma debt.
Again, thank you for all your support. I will be learning a lot on this site and hope to be able to give back as much as I've already been given.
Time to ride! I'll let you know how it goes.
Peace out,
Carolyn