I know I've done my share of bad things and made some wrong decisions in life. Tried to leave my best friend's girlfriend behind without a ride home at the U2 concert back in '85 ... Skipped my last day of school in 8th grade -- only to be caught red-handed by my mom ... Tried to get out of my prom date back in junior year of high school to go with someone hotter ...

And I think for -- for the most part -- the appropriate amount of bad karma has been redelivered on me as punishment. (For the record:  1) The girl caught up to our car and basically beat me like a rag doll the whole way home; 2) I pulled weeds from our lawn all summer; 3) My prom date wouldn't let me break it off, then wanted to go home early, but not before my friend's prom date threw up on me.)

So what in the world did I do to deserve this? Madonna is on TV and the Web nonstop all week -- just because she adopted a child?? First, everyone reports she did it (including me, because - face it - I wanted to mock her). Then, everyone reports she'd denied it. Now today, everyone is again reporting it's confirmed again.

Can't I read some non-Madonna news somewhere? Isn't Whitney back in rehab yet? Or George Michael prowling a public park with a bag of Kentucky bluegrass tripweed? I'd settle for news on the latest Corey Haim-Corey Feldman project. I'd help them read their lines. Anything but this lingering non-story.

Thanks to the web, I now know I'm not the only person who hates Madonna:

• Crazy Virgo "kind of" hates Madonna;
• A professor at UC-San Diego definitely hates her;
• One blogger thinks Madonna is a sweaty, pain-killer addict;
• This Australian just hates Madonna's ankles;
• Even the drag queens are turning against her now. About time!

Finally proof that I'm not alone. It may be Madonna's world. But we don't have to like it.