Ten Years in Thailand from 2011 to 2021, including friends & family who have made an impact on my life. The first 9 were great before Covid-19 hit with a vengeance & people could no longer travel freely between countries.
The photo above was taken in the carpark next to the Sabai Resort in 2011 featuring Tony & Nikki Murphy, my brother Warren & a couple of Thai babes. 🙂
2011 at Rimpa Lapin
A terrific restaurant about 30 minutes drive south of Pattaya. A great night with friends & family.
2012 50th birthday for Trevor Loresch
Trevor’s son & daughter & Herbie pastor on the right.
2012 with Nick Partridge & Joergen Ulitza
On the way to dinner with Nick from the Gold Coast & Joergen from Melbourne.
2012 Big Viv Kennelly from western Sydney with two friends
They guys had a good time visiting Pattaya.
2013 & the boys from England arrive in Pattaya
They took to Pattaya like moths to a flame. On the left is my good friend Bill Austin, then Simon, yours truly, Chris & Dave Catchpole.
2013 the English boys & Dave Wylie
We were dining at Froggies which was a terrific French restaurant until the authorities closed it down because he did not employ enough Thai staff.
2013 The Beach Club
A fabulous of a bunch of Gold Coasters. The big guy 2nd from the left is Nathan Corbett 11 times world champion in Muay Thai boxing.
2014 Xmas Day in Soi 6
A bunch of Aussies who love the bars in Soi 6. Either side of me are Geoff & Doug.
2014 on the ferry to Koh Larn
Irina from Russia eventually moved to France & got married. More Koh Larn photos here.
2015 at the Mantra for the fabulous Sunday brunch
Without a doubt the Mantra has the best buffetI have ever seen. The food came from eight different kitchens.
2015 at the Party bar
Lots of terrific girls on opening night, sadly the bar only lasted a couple of years. Check out opening night here.
2016 at Jim’s Burgers
From the left, Hamish, Jonathon & Matt.
2016 at Pattaya Beer Garden
Father & son, Christopher & David Robertson, aka Chocs.
2017 at the Atlantic Bar
From the left we have Joergen Ulitza, Steve Reid, Pothole, aka John Martin & Bill Curtis who sadly passed away in 2020.
2017 A group of his Aussie friends say farewell to Larry Krausz who sadly passed away due to a major stroke.
Larry & I travelled to South America, Thailand & London in 2000.
2018, the boys from Port Macquarie
Coffee at the Holiday Inn with Chris Lockwood aka Dr Evil on my left & my brother Warren on the right.
2018 Happy crew at Patrick’s Steakhouse.
An excellent restaurant & one of our favourite places. Sally Schmidt & Wayne Schmidt, Patrick, Dan Escamilla & Hamish Elton at the back.
2019 at the Atlantic Bar
Tony & Nikki Murphy with Nikki’s Dad & sister + my brother Warren & Pothole aka John Martin. For 20 years of photos at the Atlantic just click on THIS LINK.
2019 final feast at the Mantra
Our favourite restaurant for over 10 years has closed permanently. Lots more photos here.
2020 at Holiday Inn with Mark Yagalla
Only 100 meters from my condo on Beach Rd, as you can imagine I’m a regular customer there.
2020 Hamish Elton loves to entertain his friends
A Sunday BBQ at his home in Jomtien.
2021 Pothole’s farewell drinks
Pothole aka John martin has spent a small fortune in the 12 years he has lived in Pattaya. Consequently he has to spend the next 2 years in Australia to qualify for the aged pension. Predictively he lasted 3 months & returned to the land of smiles.
How lucky am I?
This is the magnificent view from my condo on Beach Road.
Pattaya in all its glory
Home to around 100,000 people.
Farewell for now
Thanks for visiting my Ten Years in Thailand photo blog, I look forward to the end of the Covid crisis so we can all enjoy life as we previously knew it.
Gorgeous girls Sydney 1980 and 81 living on the waterfront in Drummoyne with the view you see in the header on this post. I drove a white Mercedes Sports, had my Bertram 25 moored in front of my apartment, and a liquor store in Sydenham, quite a few good friends and a long line of beautiful girlfriends, life was very close to perfect. The Watsons Bay hotel shown above was one of my regular haunts as was Doyles restaurant. It’s a great place to stay when in Sydney, for an excellent room rate just book through THIS LINK.
This is not part of my Travel Blog. It’s part of my personal history, check it out if you wish.
My boat
I had an absolute perfect mooring right outside my apartment, it was so much fun on Sydney harbour visiting all the great beaches & restaurants. They really were Great years Sydney 1980 to January 1987 when I pulled up stakes and moved to the Gold Coast.
Smooth operator
It seemed the parties and drinks never stopped at my Drummoyne apartment, life was very good indeed.
Jeff and Debbie Don
Gorgeous Debbie & party animal Jeff, another smooth operator.
Sade - Smooth Operator - Official - 1984
The party never stopped
Looking back to my 6 years at Drummoyne I feel I made a serious mistake getting engaged and moving to Newport. My decision was based on a particular mindset we grew up with, eventually we all should settle down, marry & have children. In hindsight I now know that’s OK for the majority of people, but not everybody, & I’m certainly in the category of “not everybody”. 🙂 🙂 🙂
Talking about being engaged, here is my future fiancee in 1981
Karen Smith and Dirk Kammerling were an item for several years until her and I started going out in 1984 which led to our engagement.
Karen & I in 1981
Who would have thought in 3 years we would be engaged and living together at Newport?
Castle Cove 1980
Two of the girls here were sisters, Carmen & Antionette Sherry, plus my good friend Rob Symonds and Peter H.
Gorgeous girls Sydney 1980 included Carmen & Antoinette
Decorating my XJ 6 in 1980.
Antoinette Sherry
What a beautiful redhead. 🙂
Here are some of the usual suspects
John Malouf, Peter Singleton and Dennis Moran at another one of my Drummoyne gatherings.
Joanne Barrett came 3rd in Miss Universe 1969
What a beautiful face, is it any wonder she was 3rd in the Miss Universe?
Singapore 1980
Some people who have seen this photo have been cruel enough to suggest that I looked like a Miami drug dealer, and here was I thinking I was just a very cool dude. 🙂
Rob Symonds & I in Singapore 1980
Rob & I had a great trip to Manilla, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Pattaya and Singapore. This was when I first got hooked on Thailand, little did I realise 31 years later I would move there permanently. Take a look at my photo blog, just follow THIS LINK.
Gorgeous girls Sydney 1980, the blondes are here
That’s Teresa on the left sitting at my bar, and I can’t believe that I have forgotten the name of the other beautiful creature. 🙂
Here is the beautiful anonymous blonde as a redhead
Now is that a fantastic face or what?
When can I start having fun?
Right about now I would say, in fact I clearly remember a ménage à trois with two of these gorgeous babes. 🙂
Tall gorgeous redhead
Her name was Louise and we had a brief fling, Antoinette & I are checking her prowess on the BBQ. She knew how to handle a sausage. 🙂
I told you she was gorgeous
An absolute knockout.
Two more knockouts, Kerry & Terry
Two of my favourite Gorgeous girls Sydney 1980.
Shirley Jones 1980
Shirley was an air hostess for TAA which does not exist anymore. She & Debbie Don were flatmates who lived around the corner in Drummoyne ave and came to most of my parties. Compare us in the following photo. 🙂
After many hours of booze
At the end of the day decorum would go out the window. 🙂
Another Shirley
This Shirley worked for Stripper-gram, we used to go out together occasionally. A very funny thing happened at my Dad’s retirement party, he had worked for Berger paints for 46 years. We were celebrating at what was then the Silverwater Businessman’s Club, in came a gorgeous girl in a bikini, draped in feathers, and proceeded with her well-practised routine.
The shocked look on my mother’s face had nothing to do with the girl sitting on Dad’s knee, it was when she walked over to our table and said to me, “hi David, nice to see you, when are we going out on your boat again”? Yes, it was Shirley, somebody had hired a stripper-gram for him. 🙂
This was Vickie in 1980
The long line of Gorgeous girls Sydney 1980 continues, it seemed there were so many babes and such little time. 🙂
Carol Aboud the ultimate party girl
Even though Carol was the mother of four young children she was the ultimate party girl. Part of a wealthy eastern suburbs family, her father was the managing director of Century batteries & in his eyes she could do no wrong.
We really had some great times together over a four year period, although it was one of those on & off relationships that ran into quite a few road blocks along the way.
Talking about party animals
This is Roger “Ramjet” Williams who could always be relied upon to put on a show. Two of his party tricks were drinking a Bloody Mary containing 1/2 a bottle of Tabasco sauce. If a normal person had one sip it would set your mouth on fire. His 2nd trick was to take a raw onion and eat it like an apple, this man obviously had no taste buds. 🙂
A Mexican bandit? No it’s Chris Adams
One of the Adelaide guys I knocked around with when I lived there in 72 to 74, Chris wound up in Sydney then I lost track of him. I have always had a knack of giving people nicknames that seemed to stick with them, in Chris’s case his name was “The Mouth”. 🙂
Another Shirley, Xmas 1981
A gorgeous little girl from the eastern suburbs who had a wealthy father and lived at Darling Point.
Ron Walsh from Broken Hill with Donna.
Ron was a close friend for many years, he owned the Retravision store in Broken Hill and would find any excuse to visit me when I lived in Adelaide, we had some wonderful fun times together.
Debbie Secombe another of the Gorgeous girls Sydney 1980
Debbie a cool Aussie chick who worked at the Manilla Playboy Club for a few years before turning up at one of my famous parties.
Gorgeous girls Sydney 1980, Di Parkinson Xmas 1981
Di was one of the most beautiful ladies I ever knew, also one of the craziest. No woman has caused me more problems in my life than this one. Apart from all that we had many great times together during the last 10 years.
One of the great nights of my life, and one of the best NYEs of my life, we overloaded my boat with 16 people and headed off to a seafood restaurant at “the Spit” for dinner before heading to the Opera House for the incredible fireworks. My girlfriend for the night was the gorgeous one in the middle, very unusual that I can’t remember her name.
I considered Wolf Wottke my best friend since we met in Adelaide in 1973, that friendship continued until I moved to Newport in 1984, sadly after that it was never the same.
Sydenham Cellars grand opening 1980 featuring Debbie Don.
In the 4 years I owned my liquor store I never really made too much money, 3 of those years the road was was closed for 3 or 4 months which effected my turnover rather badly. Luckily I had purchased the property and made a killing when I sold.
OK, one last look at Debbie.
She is certainly worth a look don’t you think?
Thanks for visiting my Gorgeous girls Sydney 1980 photo blog, what an era that was. No doubt at all 80, 81 & 82 were amazing years for living large & gorgeous ladies.
It’s now 2017 and here is Glenn Frey to tell you exactly how I feel today.
Great hotel rates here, just book through THIS LINK.
Newport peninsular Sydney is my personal photo history not part of my travel blog.
Newport peninsular Sydney
Newport peninsular Sydney was my home for three years from 1984 to 1987. After becoming engaged to a beautiful Melbourne lady Karen Smith, I purchased a timber home perched on a hill above the Royal Motor Yacht Club. The cost was $128k, and I sold it after our engagement fizzled out 4 years later for $360K. I guess it would be worth nearly 2 million dollars today.
Absolutely gorgeous.
As you can see Karen was a beautiful lady, it took me anther 10 years before I realised I was just not cut out for marriage or long term relationships. There is probably a multitude of reasons why, fear of commitment, too independent etc etc.
Dinner party at Herbert Avenue
We were very happy at Newport 80% of the time, I tried hard to settle down and enjoy life as a couple, every now and then however the “call of the wild” would interrupt our utopia.
Wolf Wottke (with the beard) had been my best friend for a number of years, I left him renting my Drummoyne apartment for a year or so until I got fed up chasing the rent. Consequently I sold it which in hindsight was probably a mistake.
Lots of birds & wildlife
These beautiful Rainbow Lorikeets would visit every day for their snack on the balcony.
Life was very good
I had all the toys, a beautiful Mercedes Sports, a cabin cruiser moored at the yacht club, a liquor store in Sydenham which I was in the process of selling and a good sales job with Canon Australia.
Lion Island
This great photo (excuse the quality) was taken on Lion Island in the Hawksbury River, from left to right we have Graham La Roche aka “Biff”, his girlfriend at the time Mona,Ross Ansell from Melbourne and Karen Smith & I.
Me Tarzan
Ross doing his Tarzan impersonation on Lion Island.
31 Herbert Avenue Newport
About 25 years later around 2012 I paid a visit to Herbert Avenue to see if things had changed. Apart from the colour scheme and far less vegetation nothing much had changed.
Another day on Pittwater
My good friend Tony Murphy and his beautiful wife Inge join Karen & I on my 26 foot cabin cruiser. After 29 years I caught up with Inge in Melbourne in 2014.
My back veranda overlooked Bayview
Here is my good friend Paul Slaughter with two gorgeous girls, on the left is Trish and on the right an old girlfriend of mine Shirley.
Big Tim Bristow, dinner at Herbert Avenue.
Tim Bristow was a friend of mine dating back from the time we met in 1971 when he was on my tail to give me a hiding, but that’s another story just follow THIS LINK. In the 70s just the name Tim Bristow struck fear into the heart of all those who knew him, an enforcer with a reputation of being one of the most brutal street fighters in Australia. Put simply he was legend, a bouncer at the Newport Arms hotel, would be contenders for his crown would travel from all over Sydney to try their luck, many came and all of them were sent packing battered and bruised.
I sold my liquor store in late 1984 which took the pressure off me. I had been working with Canon for a few months and travelling to Sydenham (a one hour drive each way) at weekends to work in the liquor store. Meanwhile I dug a wine cellar underneath my Newport home and stored a huge amount of wine that I took home from the shop.
Unwins Bridge Road
That’s Madison my beautiful 4 year old German Shepherd who used to diligently guard the store overnight.
Newport peninsular Sydney Brian Millard
Brian was a boat broker at Newport and a regular drinker at the Newport Arms hotel. He lived just up the road at Bungan Beach before moving to Noosa where I believe he still resides.
Richard on the left and Rob Carnahan
Two very nice guys who were customers of mine when I was with Canon. Their office was opposites the Oaks Hotel in Neutral Bay so more often than not we would meet in the pub. 🙂
A bunch of my nephews & nieces come to visit.
Amazing seeing these old photos, all of these cute kids now have children of their own.
Sue and John Heatherington
A lovely couple who lived in the next street from us, John also worked at Canon in the computer division.
Malaysia 1985
John & Sue, Karen & I went on a Canon conference to Penang, here we are driving from Penang to Singapore via Kuala Lumpur.
Singapore Xmas 1985
Here we are in Singapore, notice the cigarette. I smoke on and off for most of my life until 2003. Usually 2 or 3 years then I would quit for a similar time before returning to the grip of the nicotine.
Newport peninsular Sydney with Phil Parkinson
Phil has lived most of his life on the Newport peninsular Sydney and I believe still does in 2016. He is the brother of my ex girlfriend Di Parkinson.
Melbourne Cup 1985
Karen & I at the cup with friends including another ex girlfriend Helen Burkewho is on the left of the photo. Helen has a vineyard at Dromana on the Mornington Peninsular, I spent a few day there in October 2014 drinking wine with her and her partner Jack.
Oscars Coolangatta 1985
I can’t remember the name of the beautiful dark haired princess, she was the girlfriend of my crazy chiropractor from North Sydney.
Newport peninsular Sydney
Prior to buying my cabin cruiser I had this little run-about, it was a lot of fun, do you like the name? 🙂
Another guy from my rogues gallery.
Danny Rose one of Adelaide’s true characters, we had a day of the water, you can see “Stamped Urgent” in the background.
Beautiful Karen Smith
Certainly my life on the Newport peninsular Sydney revolved around lots of good friends and my beautiful fiancée Karen. My thanks to her for being the most important part of my life for those great years.
Thanks also to you for visiting my Newport peninsular Sydney photo blog.
January 1st 2013, please note, this is not part of my Travel Blog. It’s my personal history, check it out if you wish.
New Years Eve Sydney 2012 at Drummoyne
New Years Eve Sydney 2012 from 72 Wrights Road Drummoyne where I lived for six years from 1979 to 1984. This is late afternoon and everybody is getting ready for the fireworks, there are two spectacular shows, one at 9 pm for the children (and me) and one of course at midnight.
New Years Eve Sydney 2012
The apartments you see are in St Georges Crescent where I also owned another 3 bedroom waterfront apartment at Brackley Gardens, this was for investment & rental purposes I never lived there. It is interesting to look at prices way back in the 70s, I purchased Brackley Gardens for $48,000 in 1977 then sold 5 years later for $98,000.
I sold Wrights road for a profit of $100,000 in 1986, I rate this in the top 3 mistakes I have ever made in my life.
I have known Warwick for about 35 years, a nice fellow with a great sense of humour. He and his lovely wife Ady have lived in Cherrybrook for many years. I like standing beside him, he makes me look thin. 🙂
Peter Hesky
I have known Peter for a similar amount of time as Warwick, we enjoyed many great time together in the 70s & 80s. He is a great host and organized some terrific dinners at his Freeway Hotel in Artarmon.
Peter & I both love Mud Crabs and have polished off many back in the days I lived at Drummoyne, I must say however the best I have ever had have been in Singapore, follow THIS LINK to see what I mean.
In fact here is an example
These monsters are certainly not cheap, from memory this one set me back about $120. It’s from Sri Lanka and at 3.3 kilo the biggest I have ever eaten.
New Years Eve Sydney 2012
The 9 pm fireworks show at New Years Eve Sydney 2012 gets under way. I must confess I have seen so many fireworks displays over the years they have lost a little of their appeal for me. Certainly the best I have ever seen was in the 80s when I would anchor my boat in the Harbour beside the opera House and be in the middle of the action. Equally as exciting and maybe more so was Rio de Janeiro on NYE 2007 when 2 million people converged on Copacabana beach, just follow THIS LINK to see what I mean.
And the beat goes on
I have another confession I was in bed trying to get to sleep at 11 pm. 🙂
I was more impressed by the food
Our hosts Peter Hobbs and his lovely Thai girlfriend Pring put on a great spread.
And here she is 🙂
All I can say is Peter is punching way above his weight. 🙂
Peter & I the next morning on New Years Day.
Wrights Road in these apartments was my home for 6 years from 1979, some of the best years of my life. In fact check out my 1982 photo blog and see for yourself.
72 Wrights Rd
The smaller block in the middle was my home, I was in unit 12 on the top floor, Peter is on the ground floor on the left. Talking about property values again, I purchased in 1979 for $65,000 then sold in 1985 for $165,000. I believe now in 2016 they sell for over a million.
One of the greatest eras in my life was living in Drummoynein the 80s, looking back it was a mistake to move to Newport with my new fiancée thinking I was ready to settle down. How wrong can a man be?
Not too attractive from the street
However it was a great location to live with my white Mercedes Sports in the garage and my Bertram 25 moored right outside.
Robbie Bonnet
Robbie live here when I did in the 80s and he is still here now 35 years later. He owns a Bob Jane T-Marts in Drummoyne however I believe it recently closed and he is moving to a new location.
Farewell to Wrights Road
The memories certainly came flooding back after spending New Years Eve Sydney 2012 at my old home in Drummoyne. It was great to catch up with lots of old friends, who say nostalgia is a thing of the past?
Talking about old friends
When I left Drummoyne on the morning of January 1st to drive toPort Macquarie I stopped in Dee Why for a coffee with another old friend Paul Slaughter.
Thanks for visiting my New Years Eve Sydney 2012 photo blog.
This is not a travel blog, it is part of my personal photo history .
Flying high fifty years old
Flying high fifty years old living in Surfers Paradise, working for Metway bank & living life to the max. A great trip to Berlin & Prague with a stopover in Bangkok on the way home. Helen & Helenka are in the photo having Birthday drinks at Broadbeach tavern, can’t remember the name of the girl on the left.
I’m also getting a great buzz re-visiting some of my fantastic years. Some of the photos contain nudity & certain comments may offend the narrow minded, so if you are in this category it’s probably best to close the page & move on.
Flying high fifty years old with my great old friend Harley Bradstreet
Harley and I have been friends since about 1968.
Female bouncer at Cocos.
This well built is the only female bouncer I have seen working in a nightclub. As you can see she took no nonsense from Harley. Then again Harley could talk underwater with a mouth-full of marbles so she may have just been trying to shut him up. 🙂
Stacy at Rio’s in Orchard Avenue
Stacey was absolutely gorgeous.
Georgie, Sonya & Dave Hamilton.
Dave was the owner of the club, a wild Scotsman who was always getting himself into trouble, mainly street fighting. Sonya was a Kiwi who was as mad as a snake. Georgie was a gorgeous blonde singer from Perth.
Steve Jones (RIP) & Dave Barnes (RIP)
Sadly both these lads have passed away, Dave in early 2016 and Steve about 10 years prior to this.
Beautiful Kelly Davis
For a few months in 1993 I was lucky enough to be taking out this gorgeous lady. This is proof that I was flying high in 1993.
Kelly Davis
Say no more.
Japanese for dinner
Great dinner opposite the casino at Broadbeach with Kelly Davis, Sandy Ansell & Helen Burke. Kelly & I went home by boat, I dropped anchor in a quiet part of the river & enjoyed one of the most memorable hours I have had with any woman in my life. 🙂
Happy friends at Marina Mirage
On the left is an American guy called Henry Geller, 2nd from the right is Tony Sweurs a guy I knew in Sydney who is now living in Belo Horizonte in Brazil.
Jill McCrossan with Tony Sweurs & Lorana from Brazil
What time can we start having fun?
Andre Buzek on Chevron Island
Andre was one of my best friends and a total party animal. He told everyone, especially the cute girls he was French when in fact he was from Prague in Czechoslovakia, sounded more sophisticated I guess. 🙂 Sadly within a years of this photo being taken he lost his life in a car accident in Cuba.
Andrea from Rio de Janeiro & Andre Buzek
One two occasions when Andre traveled to Rio de Janeiro he bought back to Australia an exotic Brazilian girl for a holiday. Andrea was fairly calm compared to the one he bought out the following year who was younger and wilder.
Flying high fifty years old with Andrea from Rio.
Here is a funny story, I had a day scheduled to visit Metway bank branches in Lismore & Ballina so I generously took Andrea with me to see some of the Australian country. We stopped for lunch in Byron Bay and were hitting it off famously. Knowing the reputation of many Brazilian girls I made sure we arrived back at my home a couple of hours before Andre finished work. Well it took no more than 10 minutes for this gorgeous tall Brazilian to shed her clothes & drag me into the bedroom. By the time Andre arrived to take her home we were composed and innocently awaiting his arrival. 🙂
Coral Knowles, Andre Buzek & Helen Burke.
One of my favorite photos, Andre’s eyes always lit up around attractive females. Also around some that were not so attractive, it never mattered to Andre as long as they were female & breathing. 🙂
Eddy Bonaventure , Jill Mc Crossan & Andre Buzek
WOW! Did we have some fun in those days? Yes we did, you better believe it. 🙂
Flying high with the Melbourne girls
The parties & barbecues seemed to never stop all through the fabulous 1990s.
Another Sunday lunch at home
A typical lunch at Upton St.
Two beautiful Koreans
I feel like a rose between 2 thorns. 🙂
The big guy is Graham LaRoche aka Biff.
Harley & Biff are with another one of the lovely Korean girls who enjoyed out parties. There is a terrific story about these two guys on my 1982 post called New Year’s Eve 1981, the Great Escape.
Another Sunday lunch at my home.
You will notice how Harley always like to dress up in his army fatigues.
My favourite song from 1993
Winnie Andre & Harley.
Winnie was from South Africa, she loved a party. Andre of course was always in the thick of the action. Harley in this photo looks a lot like Col Gaddafi.
Eugine Korin has company at Kooralbyn
Kooralbyn was a great gold course which sadly has shut down in the last few years.
Two Tonys Murphy & Bonner
This was Coffs Harbour where Murphy was working & Tony Bonner was in a motorbike rally.
Sonya was a Kiwi with very few inhibitions, check out the photo below if you want to see her in her birthday suit. However please remember my warning at the start of this post, in case you have forgotten……
Sonia in all her glory
Andre is also going nuts on the slideshow, check it out before they censor it. 🙂
I told you he was crazy
I will never forget you old mate.
Sexy Suzie is on the slide show as well.
She was as cheeky as they come. 🙂
Why wait, here she is. 🙂
Just like little apples.
Sexy Jill Mcrossan
Jill was a lovely sexy lady who was always fun to be with. She now lives in Sydney and I bumped into her at Manly about 3 years ago.
Patpong Road Bangkok
On my way home from Prague & Berlin I stopped in Bangkok to meet my dear mother who was on holidays there with a friend. Naturally I had to visit Patpong for some R & R.
At Coolum with Robert Allemby
May as well finish where I started, playing a round at Coolum with Robert Allemby, is that like 15 minutes of fame. 🙂