This talk will be a (very gentle) introduction of real blow ups with applications in singular geometry. We will start with two motivating toy problems, including an eigenvalue resolution of self-adjoint matrices and a simple Fredholm operator on a manifold with boundary. Then if time permits we will mention some applications in singular uniformization problems, where the resolution or compactification via blow ups plays an important role in understanding the moduli spaces of constant curvature metrics with cusp and conical singularities.