How has hacking changed your life?

Topic says it all; post what you will detailing how hacker ethics, morals, the logic employed in hacking, etc., have changed your life, or the way you think.

Personally, it's allowed me to think from a different, and better perspective. Once you can step back and think about what's going on in the world around you without being persuaded to be caught up into the stream of emotion and irrationality, everything is just so much easier. Being able to take things apart at a basic level, be it electronics, machine code, or a toaster, and then put them back together again, even sometimes improving the process by knowing what common flaws to look for, just brings at the very least satisfaction on the deepest of levels, if not something more.

I'll post a lengthier response to this when it's not near midnight, but I'd like to see if there's anyone else out there that feels somewhat similar.

not only has it given me something todo, but its forced me to understand how the things i code work far better. i used to think (years and years ago) a site was safe if i hardcoded a password somewhere. now i know better. it has pushed me to think about no just how or why something works, but how it could work differently. i've used this in practical life too, applied it to so much more. hacking is using knowledge of how something works to make it do something you need.