Welcome to the forum, John.

And welcome to the lfe of the transgendered.

Your story is similar to many here. Admitting to yourself who and what you are is a big step. It sounds like you are doing that. Becoming who you are is a long, sometimes painful process. It sounds like you have just started that. Good luck to you.

IMHO, you shouldn't worry about SRS or how long it takes to get to that point. That's off in the distant future somewhere. When you're fighting somebody behind the next tree, you don't want to be obsessing abut someone in the next town. You'll get there, and you can worry about him later.
Now that you have an idea of the general direction you want to go - towards resolving your gender issues - you can start working on that slowly. You've made a huge step telling your friend - congratulations. The next step is to find someone trained to help you - a therapist. It doesn't have to be a gender specialist, just someone you are comfortable working with and who can help you.
Let us know how you're doing. Many of us have been where you are and will be pulling for you.

*hugs*
Kate