See, you figured it out!   

As for your question, I can only speak for myself.  I know that it would behoove me to learn C/C++, but honestly it was a bit over my head.  So I started with HTML, and am now learning Perl (been teaching myself off and on for a few years now it seems).

Some others have told me when I asked the same question to start with the hardest stuff, that way the easy stuff will be REALLY easy.  But even though I'm a pretty smart guy, it wasn't going to work that way for me.

Having taught others programming I have to say there are always exceptions to the rule. Some peoples heads seem to just have a natural gift for understanding programming so starting off with languages like C isnt really a problem. You will find any skill can be like this. For instance some people just pick up playing the piano without much effort. But then there are the vast majority that dont fit that category. They need to take the baby step approach and retrain the way their mind works. In my experience the approach oneeyedcarmen is taking is really the best for most people and will produce faster results.