Boy, you're right about the mealies and hoyas. I have about 4, built back up from the 6 or so I ended up trashing, just to save the rest of my houseplants.
If you want to start off with Hoyas, I would suggest trying the H. multiflora - aka "Shooting Stars" - it likes water a bit more than the others and it blooms fairly often in bright, indirect light, very rewarding. Tarev posted some of the flowers on another thread.