Thanks for all the replies and support guys!
Montanan, those are some good points about retraining muscle memory from some DE habits, I'll definitely watch out for that.
When my strop shows up (should be Monday) I'll have to try practicing with a knife, to get a feel for the motion. I also doubt I'll be able to just do one cheek and call it a day, I'll probably take it as far as I feel comfortable the first time. Once I get started I'll post the results if my first shave here for tips as well as just a personal review exercise. I'm hoping it goes well!