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Dear Hauntspace friends,
It brings me to great tears to write this message.
As of this morning at 8 am cst... I've been let go from my job as a Dental lab tech.
I've been doing this job for 6 1/2 years & took on the challenges head on. When I first started the job, I had no experience. For Dental schools have gone the way of the dinosaurs. I took their excalibur test of a series of eye-hand coordination timed tests. That along with the usual job interview got me the position of Denture processing.
It's even harder for me because I have a family, & it's my 18th wedding anniversary today. My trip to Horrorfind Weekends has already been pre-paid for as were the airline ticket, weekend pass, con shirt, & shuttle from the airport.
I will still be at Horrorfind Weekends, they can't rob me of that.
Take care,
Scott / Haunt_Master 
P.S. I just went to the company picnic just last Saturday too. 
I just ordered my Horrorfind Weekends shirt tonight.
This makes the convention seem a bit more real to me, & makes me nervous that it's getting close. eek! Just want to share the new design & if interested check out the contact info. below. P.S. This is the front cover art. The back design hasn't been released yet.
http://www.horrorfindweekend.com/boardshirts.html 
Disclaimer- the events that happened today did involve my haunt directly & indirectly.
This afternoon (Sat. June 21st) I attended my Wife's Aunt's 75 Birthday party. Wasn't sure that I'd attend but, thought what the heck. Our group packed half the Banquet room of the restraunt. One of the relations had a Quartet Jazz band that played the classics. Wow they were great!! The band played for 2 hrs while we visited & then later had buffet dinner. Her aunt Sheri (one of the maze's biggest promoters & supporters) was there. I went & talked to her about last year's maze. And apoligized for her leaving the que area because she got too clauserphobia. Told her that she is a vip this year!! And that entitles her to jump to the head of the line. Because she missed last year's haunt, dispite her promoting it . By chance her daughter Kris also an experienced haunter, was there. Her mother introduced us & she knew all about my haunted maze. It seemed that everytime Kris wanted to come to the haunt, she was overly busy. We talked for a bit & she offered to help if possible! I had mentioned that I was short handed with the loss of my nephew Jason. And that yes, I would welcome any help. Before we left the party, Kris came over & we exchanged contact info. Woohoo!!! Hopefully things will pan out, & I'll get input from a fresh experienced source. Things are starting to lookup!!!
Starting Wednesday June 19th... I'm on the horrorfind forums Hot Seat! Members of the HFF's ask the hotseat person a series of questions. They had a week to do it. But, it's been reduced to 4 days. I'm told it's because interest wanes after 4 days. So if you are interested in joining in, please do. You do have to join the forum to participate. It's already up to 11 pages.. eek!  site main link
http://horrorfind.com/board-bin/YaBB.pl my hotseat link (located in the Bottomless pit) http://horrorfind.com/board-bin/YaBB.pl?board=any_thing_goes;action=display;num=1213809060
I had a bomb of bad news drop on me the other day.
Since timing is never good with this, it hit me & others involved like a boulder out of the sky. It's been hard for me to write this but, I figure that since we're all family here the support would help dealing with this. My nephew Jason (23) is my main helper building the maze every year in Southern MN. Things that he's good at like construction & other things, are a balance of my talents as well. We do have other minons in the form of friends & family that help as well (but, not to the same extent). Well... the other day I got a frantic /tearful call from my Sister inlaw (his mother) that Jason is moving to Oregon with his internet girlfriend & living with her folks for the time being. She's been here in MN since sometime last year, almost a year. It's weird but, we've all tried to make her feel welcome. Anyway her mother was here for 2 wks & she's been having a hard time dealing with her leaving again. Even though she talks with her family on the cell phone frequently. Neither one of them is working fulltime but, Jason is working more hours computer consulting, repairs, etc. Somehow or another they decided to move to Oregon. Between the 2 of them they have 3 dogs (2 large & a poodle) & they are driving her small 4 door sedan car back with some of their stuff. It just kills me that they aren't thinking straight, nor are doing anything here to improve their lives here to stay. She never did try to find a fulltime job, & had Jason drive her around here all the time.
This is not only a loss of a friend/nephew that I've known since he was 5 yrs old but, my main haunt partner. Today (Sunday) during brunch it just killed me to sit there with him. I tried not to say anything but, a few things slipped in jest. Want the best for him but, I think he's lost & wasting his life. Making the transistion from childhood to adult has been difficult & he's reverting back.
Just don't know how to deal with this. 
Saturday was my day to work on haunt projects. Was all psyched up to do stuff, contacted a fellow haunter via email (since his phone number had been changed) to get together & talk haunt stuff & compare notes. I waited all day to hear from him, nada.  So, Saturday ended up being my lazy day.
But, Sunday would be different! I vowed to pickup haunt supplies & build my first big project today- a bridge of doom. Asked my nephew Jason (who is my main haunt helper for the maze) if he had plans or wanted to help? Said he was busy. Stopped at Tractor Supply's dumpster, several pallets were entertaining themselves in an almost empy container. The first one I spotted was 2 1/2 ft W x 9ft 11in L, perfect! A standard 3x3 wooden skid was laying next to it, also in great shape. Score!! I had planned on buying two 2x4's, several 2x2x8's, & using whatever pallet planks as the decking.
Went to Menards to check on a special order for a new front door, still not in. arg! Bought two boxes of screws, & the 2x2's from Menards. Went to Lowes for 20ft. of bulk plastic chain & a drill bit.
After a few other stops, I finally made it home with all my finds. Unloaded them all, grabbed the needed tools, & started taking the smaller pallet apart. I thought this was going to be a quick disassembly, wrong. Learned a valuable lesson today "taking apart pallets suck!" Not all the nails wanted to come out nice usuing a prybar. But, maybe it was because they weren't the standard nails. They had a twist at the bottom end of them. Grr!! Finally got all the nails out, measured the planks & cut them to 2 1/2 ft L using a circular saw. Placed all the planks & even the short pieces on the bridge deck in place. Screwed half of the pilot holes through the plank pieces into the main supports. Then drove the screws into place. My battery died just as I was getting ready for the second half. Swapped out the battery with a "fully charged" battery. Yeah, right! The second battery didn't last as half as long as the first... Grr!! By then it was starting to get dark anyway. Had planned on working on it more but, was getting frustrated. Cleaned up & put everything away. I have pictures of the pallets, materials, etc. Just have to upload them on Monday.
As many of you know... I attend Horrorfind Weekends in Maryland every August. It's a chance to: meet up with my friends from HF forums
build a Haunted House in 8 hrs
attend Haunt Seminars
meet new people
network with people in the Haunt business
maybe meet some Horror celbs
watch horror movies on the big screen outside
The time between conventions is a like forever & a day. Yes, there is a March HFW con. But, it tends to be smaller then Aug. & you can't hang outside with friends till the wee hours with chilly weather. This year the convention is in a different city (Adelphi) & that means a different Marriott hotel. For those that attended the last 8 HFW's, Hunt Valley Marriott was our yearly home away from home. This other hotel will take a bit of getting used to but, it'll grow on us. I got a report back from a few friends that attended the March con this year at the new location. Not from a lack of planning but, there were definately growing pains on both sides (hotel & the con). Rest assured that things will be ready for August. It's been hard counting the days till the next convention. But at the sametime it helps a little.  Haunty
update 4/30/08
With it being such a cold Winter this year, I didn't get a chance to build anything for my haunted maze yet. But happily the snow has melted & the days are getting warmer. Getting anxious to start building something. Not long ago I went for the annual price quotes for Haunt supplies. This is the first year that there will be 3 home improvement stores in the area, yea! Went to Menards first, then to Lowes. Menards still came out the winner for cheaper prices. 
I started sketching out new concepts to add this year to challenge my patrons. Gotta keep em' guessing! Last year we did a Medieval dungeon theme & had a blast. It was so much more different then anything we've done before. Want to continue the theme & see what we can come up with this year. The maze had grown to 27x72 or 1,944 sq. ft, our biggest yet!! We had people lost from 30 - 45 minutes inside. (in groups of 2's, 3's, or 4's)
Still no one has ever gone alone through it, after 7 years!
Haunty
Today March 28 thru Sunday the 30th is Horrorfind Weekends 9 in it's new location in Adelphi, Maryland. It's also my Father's Birthday also.
A number of my friends are there enjoying the convention. With my bills what they are & only having the choice of attending one convention a year. Mainly because of all the costs associated with it. Not living in Maryland, but many states away. Or a 90 min. drive to the airport, a 2 1/2 hr flight to Baltimore, & another 25 min. drive to the convention. Limits my options. So today I feel myself being tugged in two directions, both here where I live, & there. To help me deal with the separation, today: I wore a past HFW's con. shirt
played the Monster Geocide cd at work (that my crazy roommates (from MG) from 07's con., gave me). I could have gone to this convention which is smaller typically then the August con. But, then again if I did, then I wouldn't be able to attend the Aug. con. Which is much bigger & has the HFW's boardmember built Haunted House, which I'm a haunt crew member. So, I guess you could say that I have the HFW's blues...
Haunt_Master
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