Bottled Sky

Entrance to Singapore’s Red Dot Design Museum is free on the first weekend of each month, so my coworkers and I decided to pop in one Saturday. (Wondering about the name? Locals fondly refer to Singapore as the “little red dot”, because that’s how the tiny city-state appears on most world maps.)

My hyper-abbreviated review: There were some interesting displays but nothing worth the $8 entrance fee, if one were to drop by on a regular day. We did manage to snap a few cool photos, though

Obligatory tourist shot. It’s impossible to miss the colonial building that houses the museum. It’s painted fire-engine red and takes up an entire block.

Continue reading The Red Dot Design Museum »

If you have hundreds of vacation photos sitting in your hard drive and want to make better use of them, try turning them into cartoon postcards! It’s quite simple to do if you have some basic drawing and Photoshop skills.

In my aunt’s case, she had a niece with a lot of free time. Below are three of eight postcards that I made for her a few years ago (she needed them for a personal project). Click on the thumbnails for a bigger view.

I used photos from her trip to China, choosing those of her standing in front of different tourists spots with very few other people in the background. Those are the best types of photos for this kind of project.

Here’s a rundown of how you can make unique postcards out of your travel photos. One caveat: This is definitely not a tutorial. It’s more of a detailed idea for you to play around with

Continue reading Personalized Cartoon Postcards »

I suck at blogging. I wrote only one entry last month, and I failed to mention that I moved to another country last week. To quote my friend Chrissa in her latest e-mail:

I’m surprised you haven’t broadcast to the world that you’re already in Singapore! I mean, it’s a freakin’ change of permanent residency!

Bad, Nikki! In my defense, I had every intention of posting a pre-flight entry last weekend, but as they say, the best intentions are fraught with frenzied last-minute packing

So how have I been? I won’t say I’m homesick, but I do miss many of the people and things I left behind. I miss my occasionally grumpy dad, my crazy friends and my hyperactive dogs. I miss watching TV with my aunt Cecile. I miss hanging out with my aunt Irene and her 500 cats. I miss having inane, three-hour-long phone conversations with Chrissa. I miss eating my mom’s pasta.

But that’s to be expected. I have a great life back home; of course I miss it! All things considered, however, I think I’ve been adjusting very well. In fact I’ve already found several things to love about this country. Public transportation is a dream here compared to the dingy buses and annoying jeepneys of the Philippines. I can walk to the supermarket at midnight without fear of being mugged. And have I mentioned how insanely clean Singapore is? It’s so clean that there’s only one brand of alcohol-based hand sanitizer available, and it’s thrice as expensive as any of the many brands sold in the Philippines.

I have a feeling that the longer I stay the more I’ll appreciate this country. Now if only I can get my family and friends to all move here, too…