new to chess, what should i do as my first step?

Bill Hartston's "How To Cheat At Chess" is a must buy ...

keeps everything in perspective as you start the journey to your destination.

Nope, you're the one ruining it with your Chicken Little impression.  Keep your gloom-laden soliloquies to yourself.

You might find yourself having to explain the meaning of that phrase (considering what aidin is from).

I ate two sets of Staunton chess pieces and never looked back.

.....mostly because I was afraid of looking at my wooden poop, but still.  Always forwards.

Definitely join a local club and ask your higher rated opponents to go over your games with you after you are done. That is one of the best ways to improve, is for better players to tell you what you are doing wrong. Also make friends with some higher rated players and see if they can help you improve.  

Who are you talking to? The poor fellow died 3 months ago...

Reassess Your Chess is one heck of a book too (Silman).  Plain english fundamentals with some humor and some really, really good chess.

My advice would be to for the time being, forget the notion of intesive study. Don't bother spending hours studying openings, those can be learned later and will make more sense. First focus on the basics, how the pieces move, how to check mate, and how to combine the unique properties of each piece to accomplish a goal. I believe that this will help you substantially.

Don't forget to play.

First thing to do? Go to your menu, find "learn," put your cursor on it, then then click on "study plan" in the drop down menu. Follow what is recommended there for beginners and you can't go wrong! ;-)

Yeah, that sounds pretty concrete.