...being a product of my era
Something came to mind when I was sweating through an 80 degree apartment, and complaining to everyone who would listen/read about my lack of air conditioning...One of those questions that people always ask (what people? You know, those people. Them. The kinds of people who ask these questions...) is "if you could live in any other era, which would it be?"
Oh god. Just shoot me!
I can't imagine that I would have lived to the ripe old age of 25 if I lived in any other era.
One of the things that people would occasionally point out to me while I was slogging through a few days without air conditioning is that AC is a fairly recent invention. Even more recent that it's widely available in private homes. When it was 90 degrees outside and 82 degrees inside, the only option was to be happy it wasn't 90 degrees inside, fan yourself, and just think some cool thoughts. I just can't do that! I'm built for the cold! I have blood about as thick as molassas, and when it gets hot out, there's no way to deal with it! I'd have collapsed of heat stroke and skin blistering and flaking off years ago.
Or take what I'm doing right now.
Right now I have two browser windows open. Two instant messanger programs. IRC. And a service for buying music whenever the fuck I want directly from the damn internets! I'm connected! I'm wired in! I love it!
For someone so introverted as myself, it's really the way to get out into the world. I've met so many more people and done so many more things than if I'd never had the internet. I've got people I consider close friends who are in England. I've been to Vegas. I've been to Austin. I've been BACK to Vegas. I would have never done any of this. And what the hell would I do with my free time if the internet didn't exist, if I couldn't be connected. I'd probably have died from boredom if I hadn't succumbed to the heat.
So.
What other age would I want to live in?
I can't think of any better time to be alive, or at least to be alive and myself, than right now. All those peopl who want to live in the middle ages? Fucking insane. The 1800s? Oh god no. Ladies and gentlemen, this is here. This is now. THIS is when it all is! For all the little foibles of the turn of the millenium, there has been no better time in human history to be alive, to be around, to just BE.
Live it up.
posted by thurdl @ 7:21:00 PM
2 Comments:
Amen.
I figure the middle ages would rock, except for the part where I'm constantly bumping into things because glasses haven't been invented.
I'd say there are many bigger problems with the middle ages than the lack of glasses. Lack of sanitation high among them. The feudal system (interesting how most people who dream of these times dream of being lords, ladies, and knights, forgetting about the vast number of filthy serfs that they'd more likely be). A significant loss of the arts and sciences that had been developed during the Roman empire. The Plague.
God. That would have sucked.
Not worth it for meat on a stick.
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