Yesterday I wanted to take out some DVDs from the library, but alas, my outstanding fines from 2000 prevent me from borrowing anything. I’ve known about these fines for years, but I’ve always found other libraries to use including the Burnaby Library and the SFU Library. I owe the Burnaby Library over $10 for an ABBA book, which I’ve since been given, and am no longer a student at SFU.

I really miss reading stuff for the joy of reading it. Tracking down a new title I’ve just heard about or investigating some obscure topic that grips me from time to time. This week I’m interested in the Japanese administration of Sakhalin Island. But if I want to read a book about that I have to take it out from the Vancouver Library. They have books about everything there. But what really made me pay the fine was the DVD collection. I have a very obscure taste for Canadian documentaries which can be very hard to locate at conventional video stores.

My friend Andrée Cazabon recently finished making a film about four Ottawa area youth as they age out of the foster care system. “Wards of the Crown” is pretty much impossible to find in video stores and she can’t just burn copies for friends so I must go to the library.

Here is a scan of the receipt listing the books that I owed money for. It’s kind of creepy that they keep records of everything…