Setting the mood

Although it's well documented that I'm not a fan of the encroaching cold of later fall and the hints of impending winter, I do so like the mood of October. Especially as it gets closer to Halloween. It's the horror geek in me, really. I found myself thinking

(losing myself in)

about this last night. I was hanging out with my friend Krista, and we ended up watching some of Halloween 4 and 5. Now neither of these movies are particularly scary; in fact, Dr. Loomis is so unhinged in Halloween 5 that he makes the movie really funny. But even still, when I was leaving I found myself extremely aware of the following:

It was a a cold night, dark and quiet, for the city. I walked across an empty courtyard and to the street. The wind was rustling through the trees and sending fallen leaves scratchily dancing across the sidewalk. As I walked up the street towards my car, I heard the footsteps of a solitary figure behind me.

Now, typically, these are not the type of thing that I would particularly notice, but at this time of year? Well, I managed to freak myself out a little. Not badly, but more like those nights when we'd walk around Bear Cove park. That feeling of a heart slightly racing, but deep down knowing you're not in any real danger. It was pretty neat. And even though the spell was slightly broken by the wad of toilet paper on my windshield, I still did check the backseat of my car before driving anywhere.
...
Speaking of mood, for too long mine has been uniformly negative. Even when it didn't need to be. It was like when not experiencing a legitimate high or low, my default position was to feel negative about things. Rather than neutral, which would seem a more proper option. I pretty much just came to this realization last week, and I made the decision to try to rectify that. Not that it means I'm going to try and be all roses and sunshine, grinning in idiotic bliss all the time, but more that I'm going to try to not be negative about things unless I have a reason to be. I think that will be better for my own mental state of mind, and let's face it, I don't really hang out with any goth girls that would find consitently dark and moody to be hot.