I love photography, it's a great hobby that will benefit you in so many ways over the years!
I took a photo class in college which was ok, but 99% of what I learned was outside of any class. I started by just playing around in HS and through college, back in the film days. When I got big into photography about 8 years ago I got a nice digital SLR in the entry range and just started learning. I found the internet has a wealth of info, the key is not finding it, but applying it to your own photography. Photo.net was a great forum and I spent a lot of time learning from the professionals there.
Over the years I have shot a ton of landscape, nature, portrait, weddings, etc. You can't really go wrong practicing with digital, you can learn from every shot you take. I will go out and shoot 1800 pics in an afternoon, and then come back and delete all but 100. That is the biggest lesson I have learned in the digital age, shoot like crazy, and then be ruthless in cleaning out the dead wood to expose your great shots. If you show the 5 out of 500 that are amazing people will really enjoy your photography and those shots will mean a great deal to them. If you show 50 then their eyes will glaze over even though they enjoy them, and if you show 100 you will lose your friends... lol
Having said that, you won't do well by using "spray and pray", it will give you a few good shots, but you will also lose most of the great moments you are trying to catch. Learn what equipment you have and how to get the best from it. Practice seriously when you can, pushing yourself into trying new things, new angles, new setting, etc.
Hope you have a blast, and find some photography friends to practice with!
Forgot to mention, absolutely agree about Lightroom, so great to be able to have such wonderful control over your photo, it truly is a digital darkroom. Also shoot in RAW to save all the data possible if you are going to be processing your photos after shooting.
Also, don't get frustrated shooting with limited depth of field. At first you will find yourself missing all sorts of shots because people or things are out of focus. Just learn to deal with the limited depth of field, depth of field is one thing that will really produce results that look professional and can't be created with point and shoot cameras. (for the most part)