rental delinquent

i've recently realized that the only things that i should rent are apartments. i'm terrible with due dates outside of work. whether it be movies or books or really anything that i have to take back, i'm terrible. i start off well and do a good job of being on time, but after a few months or so i find myself down the slippery slope of denial when it comes to having to turn things in.

take for instance a library book. i decided when i moved to ny that i'd try to get my books from the library rather than buy each and every one that i read. what use are they sitting on my shelves? they're nice to look at, but a pain in the ass when i have to move. plus you can calculate the amount of money that has been spent by looking at the number of books. every night i fall asleep surrounded by the remnants of the hundreds of dollars i've spent on paperbacks and hardcovers. when i first got my library card, i turned back my books early. i'd even request ones and come to pick them up when they arrived at the library. somewhere around thanksgiving i got out of the groove. i checked out three books, neglected to finish them, and kept them stacked in my room rather than returning them. now i'm pretty sure the NYPL will be sending some guy to slap me around in the next few weeks.

what i don't understand about this whole book borrowing business are the fees. a book costs a set amount of money. it may cost a bit more money to ship it and get it into circulation into a library, but at the end of the day, there's a final dollar amount that was spent to replace a lost book. so why can the library just keep charging people? i'm a screw-up and i know it. i'm more than willing to pay my debt to society for my indiscretions when it comes to library delinquency, but when does it stop? when do they say enough is enough, accept my debt card swipe for the book + labor + a few extra dollars and just call it even? when can i be forgiven for forgetting to return that novel from oprah's book club or the crappy sequel to 'the other boleyn girl?' at this rate, i fear that this is something i will be judged for when i die. and because of that - and the fact that i end up paying more in late fees than i would if i just bought the book - i give up. from this day forward, i'm done with the library thing. i tried - i really tried. i guess i'm not as ready for adulthood as i thought.