i am for the first time receiving my own paycheck and i have
absolutely no idea how taxes work in terms of write offs, returns,
etc.  can you give me a brief description of how and what can be
written off and also the general process of the tax system?

If you're in the United States, you may find this to be helpful:

http://taxes.about.com/od/taxplanning/qt/first_time.htm

great.  thanks very much.