*important*
my biggest advice to you is to
watch the alcohol ... back when it wasn't common (got mine in may 1996) i just bought a good mouthwash to use, only the catch was you're not supposed to have alcohol on it for a while.
so, a week goes by and the 1-2 day swelling should be gone. nope. infection, but it's no biggie at all, went to a doctor and he gave me i wanna say it was erythromicin for it (a shot of pennicillin might do to, but i dunno 'cause i'm allergic). couple of pills and the swelling was down, healed without any problem at all. so you might want to try an alcohol free mouthwash maybe 3-4 times a day, it's what i used when i found it was infected and since then i've had no problems with the piercing.
on the intimacy bit i was single, but i still didn't avoid it. the tongue is actually the quickest healing piercing to my knowledge with full healing happening in approx. 4 weeks, earlobe are supposidly 6-8, so i would say definately if possible avoid for about the first week to make sure it stays clean... of course the less germs on a wound the better. another thing is to make sure you can talk with it, if you don't pay attention it's not too uncommon for people to develop a small s and f speech impediment.
i would be careful if you put in a plastic barbell after a while, they get buildup pretty bad, stainless steel works best as it can handle any stess your mouth can dish out... but have you ever bitten a fork while eating?

yeah. exactly. chew with caution until you get used to it.
most of all enjoy it! and let others enjoy it! it's one of those useful piercings after all.