Day One Pictures!

Here is a majority of the good pictures I have taken from my first full day here in Singapore!

Two of the three planes I took. I didn't have time to take a picture of my plane that took me from Tokyo to Singapore because I was in such a hurry to catch the flight because of delays.

A sweet contraption for de-icing our plane! I laughed out loud when I saw this, so I just had to bust out the camera and show you all!

The tunnel connecting the Detroit airport to the international portion of the airport. These lights were changing and there was nice cultural music playing. Also, there were sounds of lightning and rain. When the lighting sounds went off, the lights interacted with it. Good job Detroit!


"Warning, death to drug traffickers under Singapore law."


One of the few things that kept my sanity on the day long travel to Singapore. You can never go wrong with Toy Story. After this, I watched Cars. Go Pixar!


My room in the Fragrance Backpackers Hostel! Yes, no privacy! I am in the bunk bed farthest away from the camera, bottom bunk, near the window.


Here are just a few quick snapshots of the city. There will be many more. I promise! I wasn't able to take too many because it was raining. Oh, by the way, apparently it is supposed to rain everyday. Good thing I bought an umbrella! Oh, just an FYI, a Lamborghini drove past about 30 minutes prior to these pictures being taken. Every car is so nice here!

Inside the Suntec Conference Center. It is really a beautiful place! That large glowing pole has water running down it and also changes colors. Singapore likes to be high tech and they do it well.


One of the many bars near our hostel. The night life is non-stop here. Literally. Little India is a 24 hour a day part of the city. I guess they just like to party.


Last but not least, the group of student volunteers I have met so far! They are awesome people from all over the world. It has been a pleasure getting to know these people and I get to hang out with them and many others all week! High fives anyone?

I Arrive.

This morning, Monday, at about 2am (Singapore time, which I will be using from now on) my plane landed. After a whole day of travel, I finally arrived! Literally, I was in the air for 21 hours total on three different flights. I never thought it would feel like such a long time, but it did and I'm not sure how I survived. I think the combination of sleeping, watching movies, writing two essays, and listening to music got me through it.

After landing, I got a taxi, so I could get to my hostel. A Mercedes decides to pick me up. I guess Singapore likes to ride in style. I was cool with it! I finally arrived at the hostel and was not able to check in early, so I was forced to buy a room for the night (a whole $22 Singapore)! I walked into the room and did not expect what I saw. 3 girls and a guy were sounds asleep on bunk beds! This was no hotel room! I had not prepared myself for such a different atmosphere, but I was able to finally fall asleep and get through the night with these strangers. Can anyone say culture shock!?

The night/morning was quite an experience, I must say. I'm not sure how I even fell asleep. I was even confused about exactly what time and day it was. I guess that's what jet lag does to you? I guess I had it pretty bad. Today has been much better. I woke up and took a shower at the hostel and met another student volunteer! Finally, someone I could relate to and hang out with. And so it began, a slew of student volunteers started packing the hostel and I was not alone anymore!

We went to eat because we were all starving and decided to just get Burger King for the time being. (Yes, they have Burger King here!) The city life is very different than what I am used to. We are staying in a place called Little India and everyone is just roaming the streets constantly, night or day, rain or shine, it doesn't matter. A very different culture than America, that's for sure. We went to the mall and I'll have to say that I have never seen so many people in a mall before. This was HUGE and yet it was still packed. I would guess there were 7 floors to this mall and, on every floor, the walkways were packed!

Overall, I think it will take a few days more for me to get adjusted. This is so much different than I had ever imagined, which makes me thankful that I am with an organization and have already made friends with many student volunteers here. The people here seem pretty friendly and are quite helpful. The city is very clean, which is a product of the strict laws here. I will post pictures, but on the form I had to fill out to enter the country, in red, was the sentence. "Warning, death to drug traffickers under Singapore law." They don't mess around here. I will post pictures in the morning, when I am able to get online with my computer. There is no wireless internet at out hostel! Ah! So, I will have to wait until I am at the convention center.

Make sure to check back! I miss you all!

The First of Many

This post begins the series of many that I will be writing about, while overseas in Singapore. I now patiently wait in the NEW Indianapolis Airport to leave for Detroit, MI. From there I will fly to Tokyo (Who thought I'd get to also visit Tokyo for a bit?) and then off to my real destination for the trip, Singapore! I would like to comment that the new Indianapolis Airport is wonderful! It is well organized, large, clean, and futuristic. I even tried to search for pictures of it, but none did justice because I majority were still 3D renderings. That goes to show just how new this really is.


Instead, I decided to add a nice picture of Tokyo. I've never researched Tokyo, but I'm excited to spend a whole 2 hours there, exploring the culture, before I leave the city. Yes, 2 full hours! Ha! What the heck will I do for 2 hours? Oh yeah, run around like a chicken with its head cut off, and hopefully find my way to the terminal, so I catch my next flight!

Speaking of catching flights, my plane from Indianapolis is boarding in about 10 minutes, so I better start packing! I'm sitting right next to the window and can't help but watch the snow fall. Oh, Christmas tree!

SIGGRAPH Asia!

Singapore, here I come!

Tomorrow morning I will be leaving for the wonderful country of Singapore to be a student volunteer at a computer graphics conference called SIGGRAPH. This is the first time this conference has ever been hosted outside the United States, so it is a pretty huge deal. I was fortunate enough to get funding from school as well as be provided housing and a conference for being a student volunteer. I will credit my good friend, and mentor, Zeb, for writing the great recommendation to get me the position. Thanks Zeb! You are awesome!

Make sure you check back everyday to see pictures and updates on all the happenings from Singapore, as I will be blogging during the conference! This is your chance to be the first to hear what is going on over there and what the culture is like. I will try to collect my thoughts as well as I can, but I cannot promise I will not be overwhelmed and forget some things. Either way, this is something you're going to want to read!

Stay tuned!

Hanna: Digital Painting

This, what I will call, digital painting was created at the very start of my graphic design endeavors, but yet it is still a favorite, which usually is not the case with old work. The limited color pallet that I used as well as the style with brush strokes in the background really give it an overall "bad ass" or grunge feel. I did not fully paint this in Photoshop, but rather used quite a few techniques and tricks to achieve that overall look and am pretty confident I pulled it off.

The model for this picture is Hanna, a very pretty girl and good friend of mine. That may have been what helped make it a great piece, but I won't give her all the credit now will I! The picture was taken a while back by me. Yes, I rock, I know.