When I went back to college I took Computing and Fine Arts courses to balance each other out. The logic of both was entirely reasonable to me but they were also mutually exclusive so sitting in either one helped me recover from the other.
Computers are the same whether you are using a high-level language or what I believe Douglas Hoffstadter called the computer's DNA (Assembly). The difference is that high-level languages impose a level of abstraction or simplification between you and what the computer is doing.
The difference is that between drawing a clothed model and a nude one. A clothed model has folds on the fabric of his or her clothes, but you see the shapes of muscle masses, which are fairly easy to draw. With even a model with a high body fat/muscle ratio you get to see a lot of these muscles. The drawing will usually be very complex and it really is harder than the clothed model. That is why Assembly is generally considered an advanced topic.
I recommend starting with something like perl, which is a high-level interpreted language which will show you what a computer has a relatively easy time doing. Batch programming or shell-scripting is also a very good idea for something to do early.
I also, strongly, recommend getting comfortable working on every operating system you can. I will assume you use and have access to Windows. If you are used to the mac, fine. If not, borrow one or find a library where you can use it. If you use ubuntu, great. If not, rather than getting it, I recommend getting your hands on Knoppix (information at http://www.knopper.net/knoppix and click on the Union Jack/U. S. Flag to get the english version of the pages) which is a Linux LiveCD designed by a computer consultant for his own use. As such, you can boot it on any Windows computer. It will not write anything to disk unless you tell it to. And by playing with it you can learn about Unix concepts and programs which the Mac OS uses and which also influenced a lot of the Windows Operating System.
We often take for granted a lot of what we think we know, especially about computers. While it's true that some of the best innovations come from people who don't know what is impossible in a given discipline, writing in assembly is so much work that you are very likely to feel too snowed under to make your brilliant idea work unless you already have some comfort doing things with a computer.
I actually do not recommend Java or Visual Basic as first languages precisely because they are such sophisticated and high-level languages. Any such language will make some choices difficult for you, but for those two languages it is actually part of their strengths -- I'm not saying they shouldn't be among the first languages you learn. I definitely do not think Assembly should be the first language you learn. If you want to ignore me check out NASM at http://nasm.sourceforge.net/