No worries, man. Might I make a suggestion about easing yourself into the OCR community? The best thing you can do is to simply lurk about the forums for a little while, just until you get the vibe of the forum. Read the FAQs, don't post "favorites threads," and try not to piss people off.
When in Gen Disc, just be casual and yourself. When in PP&R, be open-minded and don't act stupid. Oh, and enter UnMod at your own risk.
Be a "newbie" not a "n00bie."
As for AIm slowing you compy, I can't say I've heard anything of the sort, unless you're operating on a stone age machine. I don't know, personally, as I use Trillion for all my IMing, rather than AIM.