Debt In Deep

A few weeks ago, I was an extra in a film being done by a friend. The idea was that I was one of several students in a college class, and so I gathered a few items to put in my backpack that would suggest that. I had pens, paper, books and such. One of the books was Wuthering Heights, which I was reading at the time. I loaned it to one of the other extras, who needed some kind of prop herself. I neglected to get it back from here, and since I couldn't bear to miss any reading time, I got another copy of the book from the library to replace the copy I'd owned.

The original copy was returned to me, and I resolved to return the library book at the earliest opportunity. As it wasn't necessary for a couple weeks more, there was no urgency. By the time two weeks had come around, I somehow forgot in spite of receiving a reminder that it was due. It would have been so easy to at least renew it on the computer, and yet I didn't. I hung on to the book and it incurred a late fee.

Scandal

I like seeing things through to the finish. That's natural, to be sure. It is sure, isn't it? My intentions are always to go until the end, and it does hurt when I can't manage it. The other day, I had to leave one engagement early so that I could make another. I worried about the first for some time, fearing that it would suffer for my absence. I also hate it when I must give up on a food item which I've decided is foul, and it's most unpleasant when circumstances conspire to prevent me from finishing a movie, though that happens.

What doesn't happen, or at least what happens so seldom as to be statistically non-existent is my failing to finish reading a book. The second to last one was some two or three years ago. It was a science fiction novel which had been highly recommended by the newspaper or some such thing. I was brash and arrogant enough to be sure I would finish it in spite of its great length and my unfamiliarity with the author. Tragically, I returned it unfinished.

On Books & My Most Beautiful Women

It seems to me that most people read only for school, and the reading ceases when they graduate out of lack of interest. I guess that I don't judge such people for that. They don't get any pleasure out of it, and it's not a priority for them. I wish they would read, but I think that's just a projection of my own values. No doubt they're out doing things they can't live without, and which I have a hard time doing and do not consider a priority.

It's my understanding that reading has never really been an activity of the majority of humanity. There was a time when books were the main media for entertainment and education, but many, if not most people were too poorly educated to take advantage. I understand that if there was any book a common person did own and read, it was the Bible. Today, due to organized education, more people are literate and able to read than ever, but books and other reading materials must compete with tv, movies, recorded music, and the so-called "New Media". Books don't have a monopoly on the enlightenment of mankind, and I guess we're not any the worse off for that.