Tonto Papadopoulos

Sawadee Khrap

I boarded an aircraft at London’s Heathrow Airport for New York and as I was taking my seat , I noticed a very gorgeous young man boarding the plane.  Then I realized he was heading straight toward my seat and bingo – he took the seat right beside me.      "Hello", I blurted out, "Business trip or vacation?"

He turned, smiled enchantingly and said, "Business. I’m going to the annual LGBT convention in the United States."   I swallowed hard.  Here was the sexiest guy I had ever seen sitting next to me, and he was going to a meeting for Gays!

Struggling to maintain my composure, I calmly asked, "What’s your business role at this convention?"  "Lecturer," he responded. "I use my experience to debunk some popular myths about sexuality."  

"Really", I smiled, "what myths are those?"   "Well," he explained, "one popular myth is that African-American men are the most well endowed when, in fact, it’s the Native American Indian who is most likely to possess that trait.    Another popular myth is that French men are the best lovers, when actually it is the men of Greek descent.   I have also found that the best potential lovers in all categories are the Irish."

Suddenly he became uncomfortable and blushed. "I’m sorry," he said. "I really shouldn’t be discussing this with you; I don’t even know your name!"

"Tonto," I said. "Tonto Papadopoulos, but my friends call me Paddy."

Thanks to Paul’s Sunday Funnies (of course I changed it a little )

Ciao

Amazing Lightroom–must have for Trips

Sawadee Khrap

Adobe’s Lightroom is a must have program for any photographer – or traveler who takes photos for that matter.Capture  And if your camera doesn’t have a built in Geo Tracker – then you can use your smart phone to record the tracklog and have Lightroom sync the photos.

I used GPS Essentials (free) with my Galaxy II to record my trip today and took 84 images with the Canon D7 (no GPS) around Pattaya Beach and Walking Street – loaded the images and tracklog into Lightroom and above is the results – in blue is my route and each of the photos have been set to the correct location automatically. – and very accurate too.

The route, shown in blue, also shows the car route I used to get there and back ( no images tagged).   I store the tracklog in the same directory as the original images, so I now have a permanent record of the trip.

Here is a      *******  SLIDESHOW *******  of some of the images taken during the walk.

I am going to plan more excursions and will use this system to record each trip – and put a copy, like above, in each slideshow –

GREAT – try it, for the traveler it’s invaluable.

Ciao

Gay Angels – fight Prostate Cancer

Sawadee Khrap

THEY PROVED IT — "Gay men weren’t just put on this earth for their fashion flair, impeccable taste and creativity," said Jones. "They’re cancer-fighting angels that need to be encouraged, celebrated and, above all, appreciated."Capture

So get out there and fight cancer – tell your friends – form a group –

SAVE THE WORLD FROM PROSTATE AND TESTICULAR CANCER

FREE US OF THIS DREADED DISEASE

Ciao

A Whaling Story

Sawadee Khrap

A male and a female whale were swimming off the coast of Japan when they noticed a whaling ship.  The male recognized it as the same ship that had harpooned his father many years earlier.

He said to the female: "Let’s both swim under the ship and blow out of our air holes at the same time and it should cause the ship to turn over and sink." They tried it and sure enough, the ship turned over and quickly sank.

Soon, however, the whales realized the sailors had jumped overboard and were swimming to the safety of shore. The male was enraged that they were going to get away and told the female: "Let’s swim after them and gobble them up before they reach the shore."

At this point, he realized the female was becoming reluctant to follow him.  "Look," she said: "I went along with the blow job, but I absolutely refuse to swallow the seamen."

Thanks to Paul’s Sunday Funnies:

Ciao

New Year Merit Making–View Talay 1A

Sawadee Khrap

_MG_1941A good way to start the new year is with a Merit Making Ceremony – giving to the monks for merit for future life – good karma.   So at 8:30 they started setting up and at 9:30  the monks arrived – they also had food for everyone – lasted about 2 hrs in the parking lot right below my condo.

******SLIDESHOW*****

I like this shot – the young monk spotted me on my balcony with the camera – only one down there that I could see that looked up._MG_1941-Edit

 

 

Ciao

Happy New Year 2013 Pattaya Fireworks

Sawadee Khrap

This is my first attempt at making a video using Photoshop and getting it on the blog.  Crude but shows the essentials. I’m not sure how to render for the web – also had to upload to YouTube using Microsoft Live Writer as a blog editor.  just guessed at the settings.

Click on image to view movie

CaptureThe opening of the video was the local TV station’s coverage of the Bali High Port Celebration.  The festivities started on Christmas Eve and lasted till New Year Eve – tonight.  I just captured some footage from this evening – just before midnight and then the fireworks.

As I pan, you can see from Jontiem Beach area on the left to South Pattaya, right  – with Bali High in the middle having the largest display.    The screaming you hear in the background was the girls on the roof of our building enjoying the show – I stayed in my condo, safe from them and any mosquitoes.

It’s a hell of a lot more spectacular from the balcony than the video shows – so next year, plan on coming and see it in person, accompanied of course, by your favorite local young man – he and the show are waiting for you.

Ciao