Comments for Topic 1

Hello 2e2!

Glad to see the majority of you taking the interest to blog! As for those who have yet posted, I'm still waiting!

I know this blogging activity is a new thing for many of you, and some may be cursing me for it (I've been sneezing more than usual these days), I do hope that you would be open-minded and cast away your displeasure and unwillingness to write your journals this way. We will never grow if we refuse to move out of our comfort zone. People reading this, do encourage your friends to post!

For those who posted, well done! I can see that all of you put in the effort in writing. No more half-hearted journals :)

Alright I'm going to share a little about myself with regard to the topic. If you read my other class' blog, you'll be reading the same thing. :p

I had a number of bad experiences with regard to lending money to a friend. Not once, not twice, but trice. I guess it doesn't stop at "once bitten twice shy"!

The first one was to an ahem...ex-boyfriend. He was into illegal betting, and he lost a few thousand dollars! Driven to desperation, he decided that the only place he could go to is the loan shark's. Boys and girls let me tell you now that going to the loan shark's is the most foolish thing one can do! No matter how desperate you are, DO NOT borrow money from them. They charge ridiculous interest that you will never be able to repay since you are in need of money in the first place. Anyway let me go back to the story. As he was my friend, I didn't like to see him live in fear everyday, thinking of how he could escape payment from the loan sharks. So I lend him money. Were there any considerations made? Of course! But our relationship overrode everything. Furthermore, I thought since we are going to see each other probably for the rest of our lives, it was alright to lend him. He could take his time to return me the money. Better than fear getting chopped up by the thugs. Well well, I was sure naive. BGRs don't last forever! A few years later, we decided not to see each other anymore because of some differences we couldn't resolve. But the money that he owed me complicated everything. As much as we wanted not to have anything to do with each other, we had to keep in contact because of this sum of money. I think he didn't feel proud to owe a girl money. That became a good thing as eventually he managed to repay me the full sum. I think I was very fortunate.

For the next 2 cases, it was less easy. They were not very close friends of mine, but for some reasons, I agreed to lend them (at different times). I guess I was just silly and too soft-hearted. After lending them, they disappeared for a while. Couldn't get them on the phone most of the times. At times when I do get to them, they gave silly excuses which were in no way verifiable, eg. Grandmother in hospital, family problems,bla bla...I thought it was a gone case. It was so exasperating! But I thank God that I had help from other people who know them, they helped me contact them and chased them. Finally after a long time, I managed to get my money back. *Phew*

After all this drama, I decided to be more prudent with my money. I simply cannot be blind anymore! Third time lucky is indeed lucky. There won't be a fourth time.

Does that mean that I will never lend anyone money now? No. I still believe that we should help people whenever we can. But we really have to be wise about it. After all these experiences, I've concluded that if I ever decide to lend again, I would have to be prepared not to get the money back.

That's all for now! Do feel free to give comments to any posts here! :)

Love,
Ms Goh