movie night with Mrs. Sublett

Kim and I watched Pride and Prejudice tonight (the Keira Knightly version) after the kids were tucked in their beds. Annie loaned Kim a bunch of Jane Austen books this summer, and Kim wanted to see the movie again. It was worth the watching. It took a while to start understanding the accents and pace at which they spoke, but the story is great.

The story is set in the 1700's, and life was vastly different in that era. I have a tendency to insert myself into the stories that I watch/read. One of the questions that I always ask is this: Could I have lived in this story? Generally, I come to the conclusion that I could pull that off. It usually doesn't matter what the story/genre is, either.

Had I lived in the 1700's, I probably would have been a pastor. I know--what a stretch. But my choices would have been pretty similar to what they've been today.

I love living in this current era, to be sure. We've got lots of advantages that our forefathers lived without. For example:

• indoor plumbing (chamber pots = not cool)
• electricity
• modern medicine and health care
• lasik (thanks, Dr. Kleinert)
• television and media in general
• computers
• mass transit
• higher education
• organized sports teams (and all the fine ESPN products)
  
• the lottery
• alarm clocks
• rush hour traffic
• the ability to be always connected (cell phone, laptop)
  

Of course, life without all these trappings meant that people's work was more physical (no need to get to the gym for that workout), they spent more time with the family at home (reading, playing games, making music), and importantly, they went to bed when the sun went down.

But you know, bed vs. posting to a blog after midnight...you make the call.