So being new to programming and having alot of time on my hands I have decided to dive into the wonderful world of Python. I am a complete novice when it comes to this sort of thing although I have in the past wrote some basic BASH scripts nothing elegant the usual chaining commands together, printing hello world and feeling proud

My main interest is Linux I do alot of tinkering it started as a hobby i'm not one of these bearded gurus but I have done some basic stuff i.e setup servers, played with firewalls and am pretty comfortable using the BASH prompt.
I am currently working my way through: Learn python the hard way
It's going ok I have managed to write a few basic things and done some basic math nothing to elegant or fancy but I have dipped my toes into the murky waters of Python and have enjoyed my learning so far.
I am total noob when it comes to this though the mere mention of loops, arrays, functions and I start sweating

So as a first language is Python a good choice? I was thinking manning up and learning C but looked at a few examples and was like wtf?

Secondly once you have a grasp of the basics of python how can you apply it system administration? i.e writing scripts to do backups, running commands is there a book out there specifically aimed at this kind of thing?
Lastly any newbie coders out there who made the journey I would like to know how you got to where you are give me some inspiration