Hopscotch, click on "User CP", then on the left side of the resulting page click "Edit Avatar". You can choose one of the avatars provided or upload your own photo.
Nettie Belle, it sounds like the chat room is loading ok for you. You can always see if anyone is in the chat room at the bottom of the front page of this site.

If anyone is having trouble figuring out how to use the chat room, read this:
http://www.clown-forum.com/clown-for...lown-chat.html