Good Bad Past Actions Things Deeds Regretting Earl

My Name is Earl is a popular TV series about a man who regrets his past actions. The "protagonist" (main character) is a man named Earl who was a "petty crook" (a criminal who is involved in minor or small crimes) for most of his life. One day, he had a $100,000 "lottery ticket" (a small piece of paper that one buys and, if the number on that paper matches another number, one wins money), but then he was hit by a car and the lottery ticket was lost.

While he is in the hospital, "recovering" (getting better) from the "accident" (when a car hits something), he thinks about "karma," or the idea that if one does good things, good things will happen to oneself, and if one does bad things, bad things will happen to oneself. He decides that karma "makes sense" (seems true) and decides that he wants to "turn his life around" (change one's life in a good way). He makes a list of all the bad things he has done and begins doing "good deeds" (actions that benefit or help other people, even if they don't benefit oneself) to "make up" (compensate) for his bad deeds.

After doing his first good deed, he finds the $100,000 lottery ticket. He sees this as an example of karma and it "motivates" (gives a reason for doing something) him to continue doing good deeds to make up for the bad deeds in his past. He uses his "lottery winnings" (the money won in a lottery) to do the good deeds. The show is about his efforts to do good deeds and how his actions are "perceived' (seen and interpreted) by other people.