The life of a business couple

So it's been almost 1 and a half years since we opened La Novella Studio. While I wouldn't say that it is the most successful business around, I would have to say that we have came a long long way from where we used to be.

From a small run down place in ubi to a space that's 3 times the size of what it used to be and an ongoing cost that's more than 3 times of what it used to be is not an easy feat at all.

It hasn't been an easy journey for us.

Most of the times, we are broke. Very broke.

The two of us survive on his army pay of approximately $500 and about $300 of the studio funds as our monthly pay.

Yes, that is all we survive on.

I don't know how people come to the conclusion that because we are business owners, we are extremely rich and can afford more than what it seems.

The truth is that the truth cannot be further away from what people think it is. As a business couple, what we do is to always put the business in front of all of our needs.

This means that we have almost 0 dating time. And it also means that whatever profits we make from the studio goes right back into the studio for further expansion and emergency cash usage.

There are days where I am not sure if what we are doing is necessarily the healthiest for a relationship. We spend almost all of our time together and so this brings about a lot of opportunities for conflicts. We sometimes get irritated with each other over the smallest of miscommunications. We try NOT to iron out issues because we are afraid that if we do, it might affect our business relationship. (which is extremely wrong and is something that we are looking at rectifying)

But yes, we have came a long long way.

Back when we first started the business, I thought of it as a sustainable source of income but never ever thought that it will one day grow to this state.

I would never have thought that one day we would be interviewed by popular radio djs. I would never ever have thought that we would have met so many people and worked with so many organizations that I used to only dream about working with.

And this... This is all a part of our hard work. And of course a lot of luck that the people around us are all so precious.

So to all my studio customers, customers turned friends and long term friends, thank you, thank you all so so much from the bottom of my heart.

Both me and Gui Jie are eternally grateful to everyone who has helped us on this journey that we have put ourselves onto and we sincerely hope that when the studio reaches its second birthday, it would have achieved more than what we have right now.

So thank you everyone. We will continuously work hard and harder.

Love,
Vilvian

2013

2012 has went as quickly as it came. It's almost like a tornado really. I don't even know how time can pass this quickly without you realizing. 

2012 has been interesting. 

We maintained La Novella Studio and managed to expand. The studio is still extremely unstable but I will make it stabilize this 2013. 

The boyfriend survived a whole year and more or army and will be ORD-ing this June. 

We started working on a new brand. 

We became a lot more ambitious. 

...

And I think that is all to my life. 

Army, boyfriend, work, work, work, work, family, boyfriend, work, work, work.

Hopefully 2013 will be a year that is more fruitful. 

Hopefully 2013 will let me give my parents the type of life they deserve. To return to them the life they used to have will be impossible. But to give them something better than they have right now... I really want for that to happen. 

Je créerai mon propre destin

I wonder if there's any part of you that detects that I'm falling apart.

Sometimes I wonder if any of this is true. An I just looking at some weird paradox of my life? One moment everything is alright and the next everything seems like it's falling apart.

I'm so tired, so tired.

The fire that doesn't light up

I don't love you any lesser than I did a month ago. Maybe I love you more. Maybe this love has consumed me so much so that I don't know what love is anymore.

I remember just 2 years back, I wrote a post on how my heart was threatening to jump out of my body while waiting for you end work outside your work place. I remember how nervous I was to see you. How much I wanted for you to see my best. How much I craved to see you and to be in your arms again.

2 years later. We work together everyday. We are awesome partners at work. We complement each other's shortcomings. But is that same passion still there? Do I have to keep my heart in check anymore? Do I work hard to look my best in front of you everyday? Do I still crave to see you, to be in your arms for the same reason that I had 2 years ago?

I don't know when this happened. I don't think I know for sure.

But I feel like this relationship is starting to feel like a stale bread. Very dense, very heavy and not tasty anymore.

I miss you. I miss us. I miss us being happy together.

Nowadays it's just a ton of disagreements and a lot of boredom. We look at each other on different ends of the table with nothing much to say. All we can talk about is work.

I ask you daily "do you love me?", "do you miss me?"

It's became a routine. I ask not because I don't know what your answer is. I ask because I fear. I ask because I honestly don't know if I feel loved or missed or needed anymore.

Maybe I'm just selfish. Maybe I'm just too closed up. Maybe I'm just too fearful of loneliness.

I don't know. I really don't.

Maybe I'm too greedy?

I just wish both of us would put just that bit more effort into each other. I just wish for that fire to come back again.

But maybe we've been burned to the wick. Maybe I can't light it up anymore.

This

"Eventually, lonely kids grow up into lonely adults, which sounds terrible (especially if you’re Sylvia Plath), but loneliness has a way of shaping your heart and making you who you are. You’re the person who cares so much about people that they’re willing to drive their friends a little crazy and the person who obsessively worries about their family and checks in on them, even when you know they’re probably fine. You just want to be sure. You’re the person who moons over their first kiss and writes about it endlessly in their journal, who learns to pine, yearn and strive for more — because you know what it is to lack."

- When You’re Lonely, You’re Not Alone, Nico Lang, Thought Catalog

Oh. So this feeling all those years... Loneliness?

MITROE

It's been awhile, as usual. I've been working a lot harder lately. Maybe I've really sold myself to money. Maybe, in Singapore, after you hit your 20s, you automatically are upgraded to being a money slave. I feel like a slave to money. I guess you'd feel like that if you are a few thousands behind debts. I'm not sad anymore. Nor am I scared or angry. Maybe just a little tired. I just want to get my family out of this mess as soon as possible.

People see this business as something that will buy me materialism. They see this business as me being greedy and trying to take the easy way out instead of going to work.

I am not.

All I am trying to do is to fight for a better future for my family. Because they had a bright future once... But betrayal dimmed it. So all I'm trying to do is to light up the future route for them again.

It doesn't matter whether people hate me for what I'm doing. It doesn't matter if they think we are just money-grabbing teenagers. It doesn't matter if they don't understand.

Nothing matters anymore. Because all that matters... All that is left for to matter is

Money.