Freshman in Astronomy 101

---Greetings everyone! Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Jared Hyatt and I live in the ecentric little town of Eureka Aprings Arkansas. I recently started an astronomy club and purchased my first telescope. Astronomy has been a life long dream of mine, however I have not had the opportunity to follow through on it until now.
---My goal here is to share my thoughts and experiences as I delve into my new hobby. I'm not sure why but I feel like I am making quite the life commitment here. I have been such an Astronomy lurker for years there was never any pressure to follow through on my promises. But here I am on the precipice of owning a scope and starting an Astronomy Club and the nerves are a bit jangled.
---So now I have to 'walk the walk' so to say. Here I am with the tasks of learning Star Charts and reading books and checking reviews on scopes. I have to learn how to collimate and find the objects I want to see in the night sky without getting frustrated. Is it a bit intimidating? Yes? Am I up to the challenge? I certainly hope so!!
—I keep taking a little bit at a time and mastering it, if you don't you may get overwhelmed. Besides isn’t half the joy of astronomy learning most of it by yourself? The other half has to be sharing your experiences with your Astronomy Club and friends on Twitter. So yes it is intimidating, but at the same time it is empowering. I feel like I have a slightly larger purpose in the world, and for some odd reason, I like it.
---Sadly only half of my scope showed up on the FedEx truck today. It looks like I have to wait until Monday to get the other half. How perfect I say! I will be at work all day Monday and Tuesday ggrrr.... When the other half of my scope shows up, I can start talking about my adventures in collimation. But for now I am left to chew on my thoughts like cud and keep reading my books over and over lol…
---Thanks for having me aboard and I hope you enjoy my adventures in Astronomy 101.