True story: when my K100D arrived 2 years ago, I had only ever held one SLR, so I was TERRIFIED to even take the lens off. I knew somehow I wasn't going to be able to get it back on, or I was going to ruin the sensor somehow....gah, I imagined the worst! I had already sold the lens to a good friend (he couldn't afford a camera + kit, and I wanted to shoot with primes anyway, so I ordered the camera with the kit lens and the 43/1.9). I actually waited until my friend could come over so we could do it together; in case the lens somehow became horribly mutilated during the procedure, he would have at least had some input in the proceedings.
Needless to say, the camera and the lens survived, and now I change lenses sometimes 20 times a day =)
Regarding all the technical aspects, I also had no idea what aperture and shutter speed and ISO and depth of field was. I just picked one thing to try to learn each day or each week. I quickly started a photography project where I had to take a self-portrait every day and post each one on flickr. The pressure to get it right was increased exponentially when you consider that you don't want terrible pictures of yourself floating around
Seriously, there is no reason to rush it. Just pick one thing to work on - aperture, say - and go outside. Put the camera in Aperture Priority mode (I carried my manual with me for the first year of ownership and still have the original handy, even after moving overseas). Shoot some things with an aperture of f/4. Shoot other things with an aperture of f/11. Shoot more things with f/22. Review your pictures. Make sure you look at how changing the aperture affected other settings.
Do this on other days for shutter speed, ISO (although there you're only going to see a real difference by shooting indoors, in bad light, etc), exposure compensation, etc. etc. The best bit is that you can take photos as you learn