There is some good stuff being said in here!
As far as "critical periods" for learning language go, I've read differently. I heard that it's really easy to learn a language up to like 3-4 years old. Then the next level is elementary school. It gradually starts going down hill from there. By the time you're in high school you are considered, linguistically speaking, an adult (I've seen some books say it's like 10 years old... but I disagree). I've never thought of mid-late 20's as being another stage though. I most certainly agree that it is though after considering what you posted Kyle. I can't imagine starting to learn a new language with a full time job, a wife, and kids.
I think what it comes down to is that you become more and more used to your mother language. It's like the "P" sound that Kyle was talking about. If you grow up your whole life having only heard one "P" sound, then it will be hard for you to say other ones, or even hear them for that matter. It's like you have 28 years of muscle memory working against the 2 weeks of your new language learning. It's going to take time.
Conversely, if you are a 9 year old kid, you might not know all the minute details of your langauge's grammar yet, so when learning a new language you might not feelt the need to go over the grammar (which I think is an advantage). I think adults tend to see a language as somewhat of a math equation where you just swap out your "x's" and "z's" for other letters and you've got a new language.
It is my opinion that you have to completely separate your mother language from your new language. This is easier for young kids to do I think. Really young kids (like 3 and under) are pros at this. They learn all kinds of things without language. An adult, however, has to have a word for everything they do. It's like if a 3 year old were to go bowling and get a strike. The kid probably doesn't give a shit that it's called a "strike" or that those pins are called "pins" and that he or she is "bowling".
It's that technique of "not giving a shit" that is important. You have to kind of look at everything while turning off part of your brain. What this does is it gives you a "clean slate" to work with. I think it's extremely hard to do though. For kids this ability comes natural. For adults, I think it's an extremely hard thing to do.
With that said, I think I learned a lot of Japanese differently than most people. When I drink, my words get slurred and if I were to ever mix English in with my Japanese, then that would be when it would hapen (if I were to get drunk, that is). I've tried my best to learn Japanese as a "motor skill", basically (or what you would categorize what something one does without thinking as)... I think a mother language is learned that way.
I have had similar experiences with Skype. I was looking for penpals (during college after the head of the dept told me to quit because I sucked so bad) and I sent some e-mail to a bunch of people. One of them introduced me to Skype. After that, I used to talk to her regularly and learned a lot. It's not just about language though, it becomes more about meeting a friend and finding stuff to talk about which leads to all kinds of conversations which go beyond "language learning". I was terrible at Japanese at the time, but I think that the experience helped give me some inspiration to study. Also, like Kyle said, people will contact you as well (and when you see a Japanese person who contacts you, you can usually set something up). I wouldn't recommend SKYPE right away though... I think to be fair to the people you contact, you should at least have a year or so of studying under your belt.
But yea, baddadan- good luck dude! I think starting late certainly is harder. If you really try hard at it you'll get it eventually. Look at it this way, at least you don't have to worry about tests, homework, crappy teachers, and annoying classmates. (I apologize if I fall under the latter
)