Yeah C# isn't bad, C++ forces you to pay more attention to your input and file handling. Java is a free-for-all when it comes to validating input, so I'd stay away from that as a newbie. Too easy to get into dot-notation for shitty libraries when you could be writing leaner code on the C side of the camp.

In any real terms, learning programming is a lifelong pursuit, unless you push out cookie-cutter shit apps for mobile or craptastic business apps that require very little real computation -- most of it is backend data manipulation.

Tech is a dual-edged sword, don't lose a lot of time to it. It isn't worth being the biggest propeller-head when life passes you by.

I'd just read this and move out into the country, with a single solar panel and a cellular modem.

http://www.stilldrinking.org/programming-sucks

Don't forget the scotch...

P.S.(Also for light reading try - http://discuss.joelonsoftware.com/?joel.3.219431.12 "Why I Hate Frameworks" and Andrew Clover's response on regex XHTML parsing - http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1732348/regex-match-open-tags-except-xhtml-self-contained-tags )