I’m married!!

What a great day. We were so worried about the weather for so long, and it ended up being fantastic! It was a little crappy in the morning, but by the time I got out to start decorating, it had stopped raining, and started to clear up. I got up around 8:00am, and we started decorating, planting, and all kinds of other stuff. We worked our asses off. I guess it was around 1:00 that the place started to really take shape. The florist showed up and the place really started to come together. Oh, for those that don’t know, we got married at my Mom’s house in Port Huron. They have a beautiful house right on the water, and we wanted to get married in their garden. Anyway, Kelly and I decided that because we wanted to ger married at dusk, we were going to break tradition and see eachother before the wedding. So we could get the pictures done whle we still had daylight. Know that nothing about our wedding was triditional. We wanted a casual, yet classy event, without the normal crap that everyone hates at weddings. We nailed it.

Ok, where was I. Oh yeah, Kelly and I had decided to see eachother before hand. So Kelly came to the house, and helped us get the place ready. She looked fantastic. She had just come from the salon where she got her hair did and makeup done. So we worked untill I had to get ready. I wasn’t nervous at all, untill that point. For some reason, while I was getting ready, it all kind of hit me. I don’t know what I was nervous about, but I was. So I come out, looking like a stud by the way, I want to buy that damn tux, that thing was fresh. Chris and Clay were there when I was done getting ready, so we just kind of hung out. Good times. We were in the back yard, and Kelly was inside getting ready. When she was finished, I did see her peeking out the window but with the glare, I couldn’t see her real well. People started rolling in. And we were just talking to everyone. Then the photographer told me that Kelly was going to come out

I gotta say, I’ve never, EVER seen someone more beautiful than Kelly when she walked out in her dress. I was stunned. There isn’t a word to describe how absolutly flawless she looked. So I won’t try. You just need to see the pictures. My wife is such a babe.
So I picked my jaw up off the floor, and told her how great she looked. We hung out for a few, as people started rolling in. Only a select few people that came ealry. We took the family pictures, under the beautiful, one of a kind, natural ficus arch that Mike scored from his work. Then Kel and I went to Lighthouse beach to take our pictures. The lighting, the setting, the backdrop, everything was perfect. Jody, our photographer, wouldn’t stop raving at how perfect the setting was. “This is a photographers dream” she kept repeating. We had a great time at the beach. Then we came back, and Kel went upstairs to relax, and I went downstairs to pace like a circus monkey. I did, smoked a lot of Marlboros, and waited for the perfect time at sundown. Scott, the videographer, wired me up, and it was showtime. The string quartet and harpist started playing, the Mom’s were seated, I took my place and the ceremony began. First down the aisle was Kimmer. She looked beautiful. She walked down, and took her spot on the other side of the runner. Julia. Kelly’s neice, was next. She walked down the isle perfectly, like a little angel. She was going to lght the candle that Kel and I were to light our unity candled off of. It was so cute, she walked down the aisle, stopped and said “now what” while we all whispered “light the candle”. She did a great job. Then Ron escorted Kelly down the aisle. Again, breathtaking. Ron gave her away, and Kurt walked up to start the ceremony. Kurt had asked me what kind of ceremony we wanted, 9 minute, 15 minutes, etc. We told him we wanted a short ceremony, so he edited it before hand to be perfect for us. The ceremony went alomst perfect. But since noone else noticed the one timing issue I did, I won’t even mention it. Then Chris gave his toast, which was great, and we commenced with the party.

The guest list was only our closest friends and family. Joey D was there! It was great to see him, we talk about him all the time. We really miss hanging out with him. Of course our close family members were there. My sister didn’t end up coming, but that’s an entirely different situation, that I don’t feel like getting in to.

We partied till about 2:00am. The party went off when Steve hopped behind the bar. I did a shot of Crown. That was nasty. Everybody left, and Kelly and I packed up for the hotel. We stayed at the Thomas Edison Inn in a parlor sweet. What a room! The place was huge. Bathroom, living room, bedroom and dining room. The dining room table sat 8. The room was just awesome. The next morning we met up with a bunch of friends and family for breakfast. A lot of the guests at the wedding, stayed at the hotel that night. It was a great time. One of our guests made us a CD of songs, as part of our wedding present (long story) and Kel and I listened to it all the way home.

Everything was perfect. I couldn’t be happier with the way it turned out. Kelly was easily the most bueatiful person I’ve ever or will ever see. Good times!! Great day!!

Haunted House Update
Going good. We have our second actor meeting tomorrow, and should have a better turn out then the first. I realized today that the house is in great shape. Two major attractions and a bunch of small stuff. We had a couple of guys come in. One of them has like 11 years experience in haunts. They’ve come back like 5 times to get more flyers to pass out, and tonight they came in to help us work. They’ve been great. I have a good feeling about this little venture. Keep your fingers crossed for us.

Ok, so there is actually 48 hours till the wedding. But I don’t know how much I’m going to be able to update this between now and then. Besides, I like the title. So anyway, I have to pick up my tux today. Tomorrow morning I’m going out to Port Huron to put up the tent since it appears the weather is not going to cooperate with us. All I wanted was dry. I don’t care if it’s 10 degrees out, as long as it’s dry. Well, the weather calls for rain. Shit. So were on to our first contingence plan. After the tent goes up, I’m staying out there to help get everything ready, before the wedding. I’ll stay there till Saturday, then after the wedding, we’re staying at the Thomas Edison Inn. So I won’t be home till Sunday. I’m thinking I should come back tomorrow morning to work at the haunted house for a few, then go up in the afternoon, but this will screw up the plans of only having one car there. So I’m not sure if that’s going to work out.

Mr. R’s Carnival of WHEN WILL IT EVER END!!
I have a good time working on the haunted house. But god damn, I’m tired. Still, coming along though. Anthony D and Chris are coming by to help tonight. Chris is a n artistic person, so I’m going to have him help paint/decorate a bunch of rooms today. We should be almost done this evening.

Our actor meeting went way better than we expected. We had 36 people show up, which was great since we only advertised by word of mouth. Plus another 14 people that are working, that we knew wouldn’t be there. That was a huge weight lifted off our shoulders. We ended up getting a pretty good staff.

Yia Yia Update
I visited Yia Yia again yesterday. She didn’t look all that great. We were talking about how she wasn’t going to make the wedding, and how she wants a lot of pistures, and a plate of food. I had a hard time talking to her about it. I stayed there for a while, before I had to go get my haircut, which by the way, was out of control. I waited to get my lid capped so it would be right for the wedding, but damn I was looking like Shaggy from Scooby Do for a few there.

Kel and I went to Port Huron yesterday. We helped decorate for a few hours then met with the photographer. She does really nice work, so were pretty excited about it. It was a shitty day, rainy as hell. Kind of funny that we watched the movie Twister on the way up there. Anyway, we had our rehersal on Saturday and that helped my nerves a lot. Now I know exactly what’s going on, at all times, so I feel better. For now though, it’s back to work. I had a long weekend last week, and a shorter week at work (3days) then another long weekend (4 days). Good times.

On a side note, I’ll never drive another car without a DVD player in it.
Got home from Port Huron around 9:00pm, dropped Kelly off at the door, and went straight to the haunted house. The electrician is going to drive me to drink. I was told, although it was a guess, that he would be done yesterday (Monday). Now I’m hearing that he won’t be done until next Monday. That just flat out won’t work. There are rooms we can’t decorate until we get the black lights up.

We have the actors meeting tonight at 7:00pm. I hope a lot of people show up, but who knows, there could only be 5. That would suck. I don’t need that aggrevation right now. I would like a bunch of people to show, to at least give us a good feeling about things.

Work, Haunted House, Wedding Stuff, Sleep, Repeat.

That’s what has been going on lately. Although last night was the first night of the new Survivor. What does this mean? Well, it means it’s time for our Survivor Thursday betting pool. $20.00 gets you two picks. Each week it’s dinner and Survivor at Bonnies, winner takes all. For your information, I AM the two-time champ. Anyway, I wasn’t there for the beginning of the show, I was at the haunted house, so Kelly picked my names out for me. This time, I got two dudes. Rupert and Burton. Rupert looks like Hacksaw Jim Duggan, and talks like Bill Murray from Caddy Shack(thanks Astro for that one). He’s fat, with a scraggly ass beard. Burton’s just a tool. Both of my guys are in the same tribe, but I havn’t decided if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. I don’t like my chances this year, but it’s all in fun.

We got the bridge built for the Vortec tunnel in the haunted house yesterday. If you don’t know what that is, you’ll have to come down and walk through it. It’s only $12.00 you cheapass. Anyway, it’s coming along.

I have the guys that work for my Dad loading up all the stuff I need to bring to Port Huron. He he. Kel and I were going to have to go to the shop tonight, and load it up ourselves. I told my Dad to have the guys load it, and inventory it as they do. One of the perks I get for being the longest standing employee of the business, even if I am part time now. Tomorrow morning Kel and I are driving the trailer out to PH.

DVD Grief
Got my DVD installed yesterday. The picture on the LCD is a little screwed up. The guy said he tested the player, and thats not it, so I have to test the LCD itself. I’m going to try to get ahold of Tone P today, to see if he had any problems with it. He’s not the kind of guy to lie about it if he did. Will anything ever just fucking work?

As I type my DVD player is being installed in my truck. It plays DVD’s, CD’s, CDRW’s, and CD’s with MP3’s on them. It also has component inputs for a PS2 or whatever. And it’s a slot loader. The only problem is, I don’t have enough room in my glove box without hacking it to shit, so I had to get it mounted under the seat. But’s it’s in the middle, right under the rear seat, so it should be easy to get to. It will also make the PS2 install a lot easier if I decide to put on in, because I allready have my inverter mounted under the passenger seat. So I’m excited about that whole project.

Haunted House Update
Nothing really new to update about this. I’ve started decorating and hopefully will have a big update next week.

Almost Wedding Time
Well, 9 days till the big day. I’m excited. We have sort of a rehersal on Saturday, more just a run through. That should be fun. Kel and I have a lot of work to do now. We have a ton of shit to pick up, and deliver to Port Huron. Were going out early on Saturday to deliver the candlabra’s, columns, and a bunch of other stuff. Another reason I wanted to get the DVD installed now, we have a lot of driving to do.

I havn’t updated in a few days, sorry for that. Pretty much the same stuff going on, but let’s see if I can update something for ya.

Yia Yia Update
Went to see Yia Yia yesterday. She was good. Again, when she’s good, she’s good. But she knows that there not going to do anything for her, the whole situation just sucks. Billy went with us. We convinced him that Yia Yia would love to see him, and she was happy he was there. Billy said “What are you doing in here Yia Yia?”, and Yia Yia answered “well…waiting for you!” It was pretty funny. I’m going to try to get my Dad to grab some Pastitsio from Jimmy’s restaurant, so we can sneek it into to her. She really wants some good Greek food.

Under Two Weeks…
11 Days till the wedding. I’m nervous and excited all at the same time. We have a busy couple of days coming up, but it should all be fun. Were having a rehersal on Saturday at 2:00, so I’ll probably feel better about everything after that.

Oscar De La Screwed Over
Did anyone watch that fight? What a joke. DeLa Hoya won that fight hands down, no question about it, and the judges screwed him over. You know, ar least with wrestling it’s expected to be scripted. I might be done with boxing. DeLa Hoyas camp is protesting the decision, but I don’t think there is anything they’re going to do about it. Mosley is a good fighter, I mean in the first match, he beat the hell out of Oscar. He just didn’t deserve this one. Roy Jones Jr. was interviewed before the fight, and all he would say is that the public wants a Tyson fight. I hate Mike Tyson. That lunatic shouldn’t be allowed back in the ring. You could almost see Don Kings hand crammed up RJJR’s ass, like a god damn puppet. Boxing is truly dead in my eyes.

Haunted Update
Coming along, coming along, coming along. We had a meeting last night about electrical issues. We got that all worked out, and there should be a bunch of shit done when I get there today. The electrician will be there at 10 this morning. Little update about the flyer issue. Billy had it out with his Dad about the flyer. It was terrible. Well, Billy’s Dad, Bill, showed up at the ahunted house with a new flyer that night. This one was better, but still not good. Yesterday, when I got to the haunted house, there was yet another flyer there. This one is easily the best out of all of them. I don’t know if it’s as good as our original or not, the lettering for sure isn’t, but it’s good enough to not be an issue anymore.

What Would my Blog be Without a Poker Update.
Clay and I are sitting there watching the fight Saturday, and he turns to me and says “wana play heads up?” And off we went. We didn’t play for money though, just for fun. I won that one. Then the next night, Sunday, Billy came over to talk some business, and we ended up playing heads up twice. The first time I wrecked him, and took 20 bucks off him. The second, I went all in on Ace, Queen flush, and he had a full house. A, A, 7 was the flop, and the son of a bitch had pocket 7’s. Great hand for him…the fucker.

My Yia Yia (grandma in greek) is in the hospital again. They think she’s been having mini strokes again, and she might need another transfusion. I saw her yesterday. When she’s good, she’s good. When she’s having an episode, she’s bad. She was ok when I saw her. I stayed there for a few hours yesterday before I had to go to the haunted house. I’m going back again tonight to visit with her some more. The worst part about it is she has to go to a home when they release her. Her doctor doesn’t want to release her back to her house, since she’s going to need constant care. She’s bummed out about it, as I can understand. But the place that we’re thinking about is close to the house, so I’ll be able to visit a lot. We take everything for granted so much, that it takes something like this to make you look at yourself different. She lives 10 minutes from my house now, and I just never have the time to visit like I should. Then something like this happens, and you realize what an asshole you are. At least I can change it now.

Haunted House, and the bullshit surrounding it
Nothing exciting to update about the haunted house. We ran out of wood yesterday. All the walls the were pre built by us, we used. My Dad and Billy went to the Depot last night, to get some more wood so we could finish it, and they had jacked the price of the wood $4.00 a piece. They went back and forth with the manager, and ended up not getting the wood last night.

We also had a little problem with the flyers. We had made one, that turned out really well. Billy gave it to his Dad to give to his printer. Billy’s Dad decided to change it. And it’s not very good. Actually, it’s terrible. When Billy asked me about why I didn’t say anything earlier, I basically told him that I thought they talked to his Dad about it. I never thought that he just took it upon himself to change our flyer. The bad part is, it’s already at the printer now. It really is shitty. Billy’s hot about it, and I guess he went to his Dad’s today, and had a war with him. So our paper flyers and ads suck now. Which really pisses me off since I know I can make a great ad.

They got the paint this morning, and my brother is supposed to go over there to help them paint today. I hope that it’s mostly done by the time I make it there this evening. Still shooting for this weekend to decorate. I have a golf outing tomorrow, but I really need to be at the haunted house all day. Going to be a short weekend again.

Poker last night was a nightmare. The game ended at 3:00am! That sucked. I’m done with MPT (Michigan Poker Tour) for a while now. The short, short version is: Billy out first, then Rodney, then Ken (why would you go all in short stacked, on Q, J, after the flop gave you nothing??). Nate and I went heads up for 4 friggin hours. I asked him what time it was, and when he said it was 10 to 3, I was calling it a night. I went all in, on a shit hand, he called and took it down. I gave him the pot, for the simple fact that the money we were playing for, wasn’t worth the hassle it was causing me. When we started he was a big chip leader. Then I took most of the chips, then back to him, back to me, and finally back to him. Had I known it was that damn late, I would have gave it to him earlier. Had I not done that, we probably would still be playing. And I had a conference call at work today, that I couldn’t miss.

I was kind of pulling for him though. He didn’t have a win yet, and getting a little nervous about the championship game. I, on the other hand, have won 75% of the tournament games so far. And I’m the big money leader. I’m glad to see him get that first win. Now he’ll be in the tournament of champions. Good times.

What a fasade…literally!
Well, Nick pulled through for us yesterday and put the fasade on the haunted house. WOW! That thing is huge! It didn’t look that big when I painted it on the ground. The clown head came out awesome. We couldn’t have asked for anything better. I was a little nervous having to freehand it, but it worked out. It’s 20′ high x 16′ wide. People were allready driving over to check it out, before we were even done! Going back tonight after work to build more walls. Were just about done with that part. Then, we decorate!

You’ll never guess what I’m doing tonight. Playing poker. Sheesh. This might be it for a while though, at least with games I’m putting together. I just hate hearing people bitch about someone not showing up, or a game not happening, when I’m the only one putting in any effort what-so-ever. So fuck em’. This is it for a while. Let someone else deal with the shit.

That may have all been just me talking out my ass. I love this stupid game too much. Oh well. Tonight we got Nate, Ken, Billy, Tommy, Myself and possibly the debut of the rookie Rodney.

Anyone have a truck with a big bucket?
Nick screwed us over at the haunted house again. Nick owns his own sign company a few buildings down from my Dad’s place. He actually used to rent space from my Dad out of his building. He’s supposed to come over to the haunted house, with his truck and lift, and help put the fasade up. He’s screwed us two days in a row. Let’s see if he shows up today.

Other then that issue, the house is moving right along. Still looking to start decorating this weekend. Hopefully we won’t hit any major snags between now and then. Keep your fingers crossed for us.

New email address
I have a new email address. My old one got pretty wrecked from the klez virus. I don’t get any emails sent to me, except bounces from when the virus mass emailed a billion people. So the new address is srouvalis@comcast.net please update your address books.

Haunted House is coming along. There are these employee areas that are chewing up a lot of our building time. But we should have them, so it’s cool. I should be able to start decorating the place this weekend. So that’s a good time. I’m really excited for that. I know I’ve mentioned it before, but the place is friggin HUGE! I am a little sore today though. I had to break up some tile from HQ’s old kitchen display. I was swing a sledge for about 20 minutes. My right arm, and shoulder are a little tender, but not as bad as I thought they would be.

Billy went over to the haunted house that they are building a mile from ours. He was kind of making a “good will” gesture if you will. The problem is the one lady there was such a bitch, that Billy said “Fuck them, it’s on”. Their haunted hosue is ghetto anyway. Ours is more than double the size, at 6,500 square feet. Were going to blow them away. We have 93.1 advertising for us, and also doing a live feed on Oct. 17th. They said they should bring about 5,000 people that day alone. That’s damn good times.

Only problem is, I’m starting to get a little tired. I have shit to do around the house, and no time at all. I need to take one of these days off from the haunted house. Maybe today, although Nick is bringing his truck to lift the fasade on to the front, so my Dad has already called me and aked me to be there. We’ll see what happens, if Billy is going to be there, then I’ll stay home for a while to get shit done. All I really need to do is clean up my shit in the kitchen (staging area for everything I take out of my pockets, or whatever) and cut the lawn. I really want to get those things done tonight. Let’s see how it works out.

Chaplin’s
My sister called and said they were going to Chaplins for her birthday. She wanted to know if we wanted to go. Kel and decided to go, and I told her we would meet them there. They had reservations for like 15 people. We got there before anybody else, and sat in the lounge untill everyone showed up. We had a couple drinks, and went and sat down in the club. I was drinking Absolute and Cranberry, which is all I drink. (when I drink, not that often)

The MC sucked. A lot of dead air. He just wasn’t funny at all. The featured comedian was really funny. He asked if anyone in the crowd was getting married, and of course my sister yelled out that we were. So we were the butt of his jokes for about 10 minutes. Then, I get a tap on my shoulder. I turn around, and there is a waitress sitting there. She says “Scott”? I say “yup”. She says, “hi”. I say “hi”. Mind you, at this point I have no idea who the hell she is, or why she decided to come to our table, to say hi to me. She says “it’s Christina (still nothing)…Christina Flowers”. I dated her a hundred years ago. The funny thing is, no way would I have EVER guessed who she was. Clueless. Totally clueless. Sherlock Homes couldn’t have given me a clue. This happens to me a lot. I just don’t remember people like that. I know I come off like a dick, but it’s not on purpose. Anyway, I introduced her to Kel, and my sister Angie, and she ended up buying us a shot. The headlinging comedian was hysterical! I was a little half in the bag, so I don’t remember that much of what he said, I just remember laughing a lot. He said that he takes care of his lawn, like he takes care of his hair. Cut the front nice, fuck the back. His house has a mullett. It was hilarious. We laughed till his show was over, and Kel told me she was driving home. I don’t drink that much (once every 6 months maybe) so I didn’t argue at all. It was a really fun night.