That is amazing detail OP. You have a good memory.
Given how it played out with all that explanation sounds like you were kind of screwed since your goal seemed to be to beat Anivia down in lane (a fair goal in low elo). But you got camped.
How well people handle ganks can vary a lot. There's how well you prepare (minion wave control, map awareness, warding, positioning) and how well you react (constant map awareness, reaction speed, split second decision making)
I play a strong AD mid too; Corki actually (he's got a slightly stronger laning phase and mid game, more aoe damage, burstier, but not as slippery or good late game as Ezreal...) anyways... my usual strategy to abuse weaker mid lanes early game is to slow push for exp and creep advantage and abuse my potential damage with free high dmg autos compared to ap mid laners. The way I play is abusive to enemy laners but exposes me to ganks. I practically challenge the enemy jungle to gank me when I have Corki's escape up (rarely should you use your escape unless to secure a kill or escape an emergency). Most gankers will have difficulty catching me when I've been pressuring the enemy mid life hard, however Xin Zhao is one of the stronger and cough braindead gank machines in the game.
Mid lane is a pretty different than side lanes for a few reasons. One, the distance between the towers is shorter than the curved side lanes. That means champions with mobility skills are a lot more safe playing up the lane than top/bot. This also means getting pressured and poked into tower is more of a problem compared to side lanes where if you're caught outside the enemies tower you have to trek a mile to escape. This is a big reason why tanky champs and duo lanes run the side lanes and assassins and mages go mid.
Anyways another thing that makes mid different is the increased number of potential gank paths... It's a nightmare right? Not really. Because once you start warding and positioning properly in lane I find that mid lane can actually be relatively safe compared to long isolated side lanes. You don't need to ward like crazy. When you ward a side of your lane you can lean your positioning on that side of the lane and when the enemy does happen to come from the unwarded side you can easily use the other side of the jungle as your retreat. You just need to make sure the enemy doesn't walk over your ward unnoticed and fk you :p
You also want to be constantly aware of what the enemy jungler is doing. Because even if you see the enemy jungler someplace else on the map you now know he's not where you are and this gives you more reign to play aggressively in lane for a bit. It also helps you predict where he may be coming from and heading.
So as a mid laner it's actually very important you ward not for your own safety but for others. Being in the center of the map you can catch a lot of enemy traffic. In high elo it can help your teammates in lane just because of the fact they saw the enemy jungle walk over one of your words, so they know they're safe for a bit even if they haven't warded.
The best place to ward is the ramp to the enemy red/razorbeaks. These are the camps that most often come before a mid lane gank. This spot also could allow an enemy jungler to sneak behind dragon/baron pit and backdoor your side lanes from the tribush. As a purple side top laner it really fk'ing sucks getting ganked from that direction.
What can also help is if you played jungle and learned their timings and jungle pathing. Be aware when their buffs spawn, and ward prior to their arrival.
Also understand the nuances of gap closing. Lets say an Xin Zhao flanked your rear as Ezreal. In this situation it's a mistake for Xin to blow his charge instead of walking up to you, because if he does you instant arcane shift. And if you arcane shift in his direction before he charges or walks up to you he can then use his charge after you flash possibly. What should probably happen is either you go in an entirely different direction which will probably be a journey through the jungle, or you run towards your tower and save arcane shift only until Xin starts hitting you.
um... later
