Yes, it's been a while. Yes, I am still trooping. No, I still have not elaborated on my recent trooping adventures.... but I will.... someday.
Here's a rundown of what I've done since the last update:
Chick-Fil-A Galactic Night
Young Astronauts Day 2010
Macon Pinetoppers Food Drive Photo Shoot
Screen On The Green 2010
Skywalk With Me Art Show
Cancer Fighters Visit
Music For Megan
Chick-Fil-A Galactic Night II
Boo at the Zoo
St. Patrick's Day Parade 2011
Salem HS Star Wars Musical Parody
Return of the Jedi Screening CINE Athens
All Aboard for a Cure
ADA Swine Wars Fundraiser Savannah
I've also added a new Star Wars costume, this time for the Rebel side. My second favorite Star Wars costume of all time.... the X-Wing Pilot. Here are my Rebel Legion troops:
Toys For Tots Athens TRU
Tyler's Birthday at Buffalo's Athens
Salem HS Star Wars Musical Parody
Star Tours 2 Grand Opening Event - Disney's Hollywood Studios
More to come...
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Wow, I'm way behind here posting about my recent trooping adventures. Here's a quick run down of the events I've been involved with that I will have full reports about soon.
Star Wars In Concert - Gwinnett Arena
Chik-Fil-A Star Wars Night Charity Fundraiser
Star Wars Celebration V Proposal - Georgia World Congress Center
Toys For Tots - Mall Of Georgia TRU
Children's Healthcare of Atlanta Christmas Parade
Toys For Tots - Duluth Highschool
Cub Scouts Blue and Gold Banquet
Atlanta St. Patrick's Day Parade
Atlanta Thrashers Bucket Night 2010
Movie Magic of John Williams Concert - Atlanta Symphony
Phew!
Sunday, November 1, 2009
October 31, 2009 - Children's Healthcare of Atlanta
Halloween Day at a Children's Hospital. Should anything more be said? Well, apparently so since no one was available to troop this most worthy event only a few days beforehand. After the interest thread was bumped, I figured I'd better step up and volunteer. We had our own plans for Halloween, like most everyone else, but these kids needed to be cheered up big time. Still I didn't want to be the only one there so I asked if there was anyone else that could donate some time for these kids, and Charles thankfully said he would come.
The hospital planned a whole Halloween Festival with pumpkin decorating, face painting and trick-or-treating. Charles and I were set up as one of the trick-or-treat stations in the hospital lobby. We handed out stormtrooper trading cards and 501st temporary tatoos (no sugary treats allowed!)
And, of course, we posed for lots of pictures. It was a great day to see a smile on the face of a child who might not have had something to smile about for quite some time. It's these types of events that really bring it all into prespective as to why we are a part of the 501st. Sure the Conventions and Car Shows and whatnot are fun, but these kids have much mores serious issues to contend with. And it's up to us to put ourselves and our own plans aside and do what we can, when we can to brighten their days.
We have no photos from this event since it was only the 2 of us trooping.
October 17, 2009 - Dog Day Afternoon
We woke up to one of the coldest days I can remember here in Georgia. Cold, wet and rainy. And today's troops was going to be outdoors! We were off to Hard Labor Creek State Park in eastern Georgia for Dog Day Afternoon.
We signed up right away for this event when we heard about it. We are big animal lovers and any event where we could lend our support for the health and well being of animals is for us. It's was such a shame that the weather had to be so bad. Those dogs needed the donations and adoptions and the weather just kept most folks away.
But, we did our best for the folks who did decide to brave the biting cold and rain. First up, we judged the musical sit competition, a doggie version of musical chairs. Then we had some great BBQ for lunch. After lunch it was time to judge the costume contest. First was the doggie Star Wars costume contest. There were 2 entries and they both were excellent. We had a Darth Vader and an Ewok. We had to give the prize to the Ewok since it was so creative. Then we judged the regular costumes and again we had 2 entries. An excellent cowboy costume complete with a little rider and a squirrel costume. They both we so great and again it was extremely tough to single one out over the other. But ultimately we gave it to the squirrel costume.
Hopefully, if they have an event like this again, the weather will cooperate. We will be there again no matter what.
October 10, 2009 - Pottery Barn Kids
October 10th was a big day for the GA 501st Garrison, and maybe the biggest we've ever had. One day, 5 separate trooping events! (And there was a sixth event that was scheduled but postponed due to the weather.)
To do my part I signed on for the Pottery Barn Kids event at Lenox Mall in Atlanta. Pottery Barn Kids has a line of Star Wars themed bed linens and room decor that is a retro throwback to the sheets we had as kids in the 70's.
The parents and kids were lined up outside the store before it opened while we were getting ready to greet them. We were set up in a nice big bedroom display and the groups of kids were brought in about 10 at a time to meet and take pictures with us.
Afterward, we did a little shopping and of course, we fought over which one of us got the top bunk! 
Thanks once again to PBK for having us. We had a great time!
Sunday, July 19, 2009
July 18, 2009 - Mason's Annual Car Show
July has been a busy month for troops so far! Saturday July 18th found us in Lawrenceville, GA for the Mason's Annual Car Show to raise money for Charity. The Mason's have always been a bit of a mystery to me (they still are!) but one of them is also one uf us, and Greg asked us if we could come out and troop the Car Show.
Once again we were blessed with a cooler than normal July afternoon. Someone is smiling down on us since we were to be out in the sun the whole time trooping. Here we are waving to the passersby. That was too funny walking around the downtown, like this sort of thing happens all the time.
Joey brought his famed Batlanta Crime Cruiser, aka the Batmobile to the event and he also snapped these candid shots of us. I guess he was trying to be a bit artistic in his camera angles. Funny... this was a car show afterall and we didn't get many shots of the actual cars! (Except for his Batmobile, of course!)
Kris as Darth Vader decides to strike up the band!
Afterward we always get a little loopy. For fun I decided to grab Liz's TIE bucket and put it on. I popped the hoses into my pouches. And that was it... everyone had to get into the act. Dogs and cats, living together... mass hysteria!
It was a great afternoon. After last weekends gruelling (in a good way) Museum troop, this afternoon was very laid back and low key.
And here's the gang (minus Liz who snapped the photo) at the traditional after-troop meal. We walked up the street a few blocks to McCray's Tavern, got tables up on the roof overlooking the downtown square and finished the afternoon in style with a few beers and good times!
Sunday, July 12, 2009
July 11th, 2009 - Night at the Southern Museum
On Saturday night, July 11th, 2009, the Southern Museum of Civil War & Locomotive History Venue in Kennesaw, GA had a "Night at the Museum" event. Just like in the movies, they were planning on having an event where the museum exhibits come to life and interact with the guests and with each other. It was an awesome idea and everyone was clamoring to do it once the invite went out to us in the 501st Georgia Garrison to be a part of it all.
The premise was the museum had obtained a meteoroid from the Smithsonian which of course has an unusual effect on all of the exhibits. The main thing that was asked of us was to never break "character". This time we were not dressing up as Star Was troopers, we WERE Star Wars troopers! We had to be fully in character 100% of the time when we were in front of the public.
There was all kinds of costumes today. Ben Franklin, Abe Lincoln, Queen Elizabeth, WWII Soldiers, Attila the Hun, Civil War Soldiers, live statues, and then there was us Star Wars guys interacting with it all. Let me tell you it was a FANTASTIC time!
Some of us decided not to don the usual Star Wars getups. This event was special and many of our members have other costuming interests as well. Here's a couple of our pirating folk!
We trooped from 5pm when the doors opened to 8pm when they closed. It was EXHAUSTING but everyone loved every minute of it.
And here's the gang, the conquering heroes of the night. Great job, Troopers!! (and Pirates, and Soldiers!)
Sunday, July 5, 2009
July 4th, 2009 - Church Picnic for Foster Families
On July 4th, 2009, my Mother-In-Law asked if Liz and I, along with any of our costuming friends would be interested in appearing at her Church picnic for the Foster Families/Children that the Church sponsors. So I put the word out and we got a great response. Events like this are what's at the heart of the 501st and many were glad to take some time from their July fourth holiday to brighten the lives, even a little bit of foster kids. The Church sponsors 3 Foster Families and the picnic was for those foster children, along with the church member's children. All of the kids were very excited about the event!
We were somehow blessed with spectacular weather! For a July afternoon in Georgia, it was quite cool with very low humidity. But there was some great shade to be had around the Church, too. We had Liz and I in our TIE and Scout, 2 Stormtroopers, 2 Jedi, and the big man, Darth Vader himself!
Everyone had a great time. I played a bit of whiffle ball, Liz and Jessie tossed the football around a bit, but the funniest thing was all of us going through the chow line in full gear.
We currently only have a few photos. We hope to get some soon from one of the Church ladies. After Andy had an armor blowout and had to get out of his Vader, he was able to snap a few photos. And then Danny showed up unexpectedly right as we were finishing and he quickly got armored up for the last few minutes of the day.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
May 16, 2009 - GBI Missing Kids Event
What's with all the rain here in Georgia? What happened to our old friend the drought? Well, drought no more and the rains came again. But not until after we got in a few hours with the kids and parents who came out to the GBI's third annual Missing Kids Event.
This event is designed to raise awareness to all the ways parents can protect their children from predators. And it's an event with fun activities, face painting, hot dogs, and helicopters!
The 501st troopers hit the scene at about 11am. Unfortunately the forecast kept away a good amount of potential attendees, but those that were there had a great time interacting with us and taking photos.
While the dark clouds were looming on the horizon, we decided to bring in the troops for our group photo. And just in time, too! 5 minutes later the heavens opened up and the downpour began. Notice the 501 designation of the GBI Van?
And that cut this troop short. We decided to call it a day. It still was a good time and we will be back next year!
April 30, 2009 - Art Institute of Atlanta Photoshoot
We received an unusual request from a photography student at the Art Institute of Atlanta. She had the idea to shoot a group of Stormtroopers for a class assignment.
The assignment had something to do with contrasting the foreground subjects with the backgrounds. I don't know. Tell you the truth, I was just looking forward to some cool, professional-like photos of me in my Scout.
We stood around for a while while the lights were set and she took a bunch of test Polaroids which I posted here. Those shots were wild. They looked like old vintage photos from 1977 (well, 1983 since I was a Scout).
During the actual shoot, she had us play around with water guns. Since I was the odd man out amongst 3 TKs, I got the little whimpy water pistol while the Stormies got the big super soakers! Ha, I'm used to it with my little scout blaster anyhow.
Then after the fun photos, we got to take some serious shots. I can't wait to see how those came out. I actually haven't seen any of the photos yet. Hopefully she got a good grade for her project.
