Personal

…got to meet Dan Aykroyd!  You know, as much as I like to ‘geek out‘ behind a computer with the various Sim games, it never hurts to ‘geek out‘ in real life.  As many of you know, I’ve been a longtime Ghostbusters fan.  It’s one of my most hyped careers for The Sims 3 Ambitions when it comes out.  Speaking of which, did you know that the Sim’s proton packs are called the ‘Banshee Banisher’ in the game and have an awesome ghost capture animation (thanks SimFans for telling me this)!  I can’t wait until the second expansion is released.  You’re going to hear a lot from me about that – I may not do a whole writeup on the game, but I’ll definitely cover the Ghost Busting career.

Yeah, that’s right! We’re Ghostbusters! You love us!

Anyhow, back to the original point of this post.  Dan Aykroyd – the actor behind Ghostbusters, The Blues Brothers, Coneheads and many other movies (even Saturday Night Live) was in my town (Huntsville, Al.) yesterday to sign his bottles of Crystal Head Vodka.  I couldn’t believe it – only 2 minutes away from my house!  Perfect timing too, because a few months ago I discovered that Alabama had our very own Ghostbuster franchises.  Couldn’t believe it – others that share the same passion of the movies as much as I do?  Sign me up!  (Hey, this may be a good idea for a Sims Club).  The group I’m referring to is Alabama Ghostbusters.  The ALGB has been totally awesome to me and my family – helped me with advise on constructing a costume – for cheap.  This is way better than the 501st Star Wars group and being a Stormtrooper (I can’t say I am passionate to Star Wars, but it gave me the courage to try out this whole ‘cos-play‘ thing.

These little guys is what we’re all about – they made proton packs out of cardboard and vacuum cleaner parts

Back to Dan Aykroyd…You all know that my biggest pride is doing what I can to help people out.  I may not be the sharpest or the brightest of the bunch, but if there is something I can do to help someone, I’ll do whatever it takes – within reason – to do so.  With the help of my mom whom knew the folks at the event location Dan was to appear at, we were able to get permission to pull the ALGB crew together and to drop by.  The people in line – which estimates near 1,000 loved us.  One member told me that he had more pictures taken here than any other event he’s been to.  We arrived at the location pretty early – about an hour and a half before he was sent to appear, and there was already a line!  Luckily we were about 20 people back so it was all good…but it was about to get even better…

The whole gang

Dan came out and everyone was cheering.  After his introduction, he saw our group – around 6 folks and his team behind his Vodka shouted for us to come on up.  We were able to present Dan with an honorary membership certificate and inducted him as a member of Alabama Ghostbusters.  Then we posed for pictures – as soon as we pointed we had so many flashes go off that for a minute we thought we were Stevie Wonder (*ahem, sorry about that Stevie!).  Then we proceeded to give our items to him to sign.  The best part about this?  Well, his crew put up a restriction of only the Vodka and up to 2 personal items to be signed….They stated this too in a snappy voice: “Wait, it’s only 2 items per person” and then Dan chimes in a stern solid voice with the quote of the lifetime (according to one of our members, Bo):  “For Ghostbusters, we make an exception“.  The dude loves his fans – what a fantastic guy!

Bo, one of the members giving Dan the certificate

Afterwards, the crew went outside to pose for pictures and to conduct interviews with the local press.  We’re all over the news outlets and media.  In a way, I feel pretty bad…because this event was meant for the Military as Dan gave a $5,000 check to the Wounded Warrior charity.  But for the most part, we’re the focus.  I didn’t intend for this to happen – it just did.  But hey, this was pretty much a once-in-a-lifetime chance.  I doubt he’ll ever be back to Huntsville so I’m glad for one to be able to meet the guy behind some of the best movies of all time!

From our local newspaper, The Huntsville Times

Below is a number of pictures from the event.  If you’re interested, feel free to stop by the club’s website – http://www.alabamagb.com