Simplified porcelains?

I think there's several questions buried in there. One thing you'd probably like if you
haven't seen it already is (type it exactly as shown)

git log origin..

This asks for a log of commits between 'origin' and your present reference which is probably
the HEAD of your local repository or a branch thereof. 'origin' is the remote repository
(either set up manually following the convention, or as a result of using 'git clone')

Thus, anything on this list has been committed locally but not pushed upstream yet and it's
your responsibility to back it up or push it if you don't want to lose the changes when your
5yo nephew throws the laptop into the bird pond.

Of course you also want to look at 'git status' for reassurance that you don't have any
changes that aren't checked in locally. But after a little while using 'git' you get so used
to the speed and convenience of local commits that you use them with the same unconscious ease
that you use the "save" feature in your text editor of choice.