1 - Yes you can go straight onto the outbound leg of the circling approach as long as your heading is within 30 degrees of the outbound track.
2 - Consider the heights on your chart to be the lowest you can go, in an Approach you don't say drop to 2200 feet at 25 miles upon entering the MSA, if you are flying a turbine your fuel burn is out of control at low altitude, so you want to stay as high as you can for as long as you can. I'm usually at 3000 feet at 10 mile, and will loose height in the sector entry/holding pattern or arc. Preferably i'm at 3000 feet/10 miles on the extended centreline of the the runway approach. Just remember if the inbound leg of an approach has a limiting height, you cannot descend below it until you are within 5 degrees of track.
3 - as Icarus said
4 - Yes, the most sensible thing to do, just don't do anything stupid quickly!
5 - ill second to Icarus's disclaimer
