Halloween Appetizer

Here is my Halloween Treat for all my family and friends who care to watch.  This is a compilation of a bunch of shows that I loved when I was a kid on Halloween.  Some are from when I was not a kid but that doesn't matter.  I hope you enjoy.  Sorry about some being blurry but they are good so you watch.  Happy Halloween. I removed the video player but you can still access it through the link.

Are you Scared of the DarK?

Submitted for the approval of the Midnight Society.

Since it is the week of Halloween, I thought it appropriate to talk a little about fear.  We had a game when I was growing up called "Nightmare" in which the players try desperately to go around the board and collect their character keys all while trying to avoid the wrath of the Gatekeeper.  I hated being called a maggot. The game is controlled by a video tape that is playing in the background.  Players race against time in order to beat the Gatekeeper.  At the beginning of the game all players write down their fear on a card and place it in the middle of the board.  Then if you collect all the your keys you are suppose  to go to the middle of the board and face your fear.  Well, actually to win you didn't want to get your fear you wanted someone else so I never really got that part.  The game was rather suspenseful as I recall and I never really liked the paranoid feeling that I got whilst playing it.  But it was a Halloween tradition and in the long run I generally realized I had a good time after it was all said and done.
The reason I bring this up is as stated before is in part because it's Halloween.  It's suppose to be a spooky scary time.  A time when people are suppose to face fear in some respect.  But also I have been think about in great detail lately why I fear the things that I do and how I came to have the fears that I do.  So I thought I would share three.  I have many others but I think that these three are the ones that have caused me the most anxiety.

Did you ever get the feeling that someone was following you?  I think most people feel this way at least once in your life.  The adrenaline starts pumping and you feel your heart will never slow down again.  When I was a younger kid I enjoyed thinking that the moon was following me.  It was a magical feeling that some how you were significant enough to have the moon follow you.  Out of the countless amount of people that it could follow it chose you. That's an amazing feeling. But then I had an experience where I was riding around my nieghborhood on my bike and a car followed me.  I still can remember the eery feeling I had as the car matched pace with my blue bicycle.  I had to lay low in an alleyway for a couple on minutes until they were gone and I could continue my way back home.  I knew they were following me because I went around the block two times in order to check whether they were actually stalking me before I ducked in the alley.  From that time forth, night was no longer a magical time .  The moon was no longer following me and in its place was a dark menacing figure that was after me.  I ran home at night ever since. Even now to this day I make haste when I am walking at night.

I use to love going in Kaybee toys in the mall.  I could get lost in that kingdom of toys and never get bored.  There was a new thing around every turn. My mom would be out shopping which I hated to do with her so I would persistently ask if I could go to Kaybee toys where I could peruse the aisles and just be in toy heaven for a few brief moments.  Again this was a magical time that was soiled by the acts of another.  On one particular day I got an over-zealous employee who creepily announced over the intercom such phrases as "I know what you're doing." and "it's not worth it."  It took me a couple of minutes to recognize that he was addressing me due to the mesmerizing aura permeating the action figure aisle.   In my Teenage Mutant Ninja delirium I left the store way too quickly to not at least appear guilty of his accusations.  But I had done nor thought nothing of the sort.  Kaybee toys was my haven from a tedious day of shopping with mom and now it was ruined.  I don't think I ever went in to the store again without at least my brother with me.  Another incident occured where a store manager followed me out of a gas station and proceeded to question me as to shoplifting from his store after I had just come from paying for some penny candy at the register.  I was angry about this one because he made me empty my pockets and scrounge for a receipt that was not there for my recent transaction.  I got so flusters searching for it which I hadn't recognized that the cashier had not given me one because I spent less than ten cents. He eventually believed me and apologized and I angrily rode my bike off to home.  I can't go into a store anymore without the persistent thought that I somehow might be designated as a shoplifter.  Those cameras are always watching.  I hate those black little objects.  I have never nor never will be a shoplifter.  I'm much to smart to waste my time stealing petty things from stores.  But because of this paranoia I desperately don't want to leave a store without at least having purchased something.  If I happen to leave the store without purchasing anything I have this fear that I will be chased down by some security guard in the parking lot who will try to make me unload my imaginary ill gotten gains.  And if the security alarms on the front doors go off my heart just starts to race regardless of whether I have bought something that he cashier forgot to swipe or it goes off on someone else.  I often have to make it into a joke in order to coup with the anxiety.

My all time fear is pyrophobia.  I have lost so much sleep oer this and if it wasn't for conference talks being on tape and my sister Teri some nights I would have got no sleep as all. I would cringe when the firefighters would come to our school because I knew that for the next little while I would be getting very little sleep at nights.  I wish I could have skipped those assemblies.  What is a new problem spot for me to be on alert about with regards to my house and fire safety?  I watched in horror as the fire crew presented a movie of fires sweeping through a house overtaking all in its path.  I picture my family being consumed by the flames when ever I would close my eyes at night.  I started a nightly routine where I would check the fire danger spots in the home before I would go to bed.  Clear those clothes from around the water heater and while you're at it don't let them be near the furnace either.  Is the oven off?  The list became longer and longer as I my paranoia grew.  Now there can't be clothes on a vent either.  I even got to the point that I was checking each spot more than once per night just to be sure and on especially bad nights I would never stop checking until I crashed some where from sheer exhaustion.  Also if  it was winter outside I would have blankets ready to throw out the window so my family wouldn't freeze in the cold.  It never occured to me that the fire would be plenty of warmth.  My main worry with a fire is that somehow one of my family members would be caught in its blaze and I just couldn't have that.  I had to make sure that everyone was safe.  It was much too big of a job for me at the age that I was to take on.   It also didn't help that Bryan use to light matches right in my face.  Siblings just like to torture each other.  I don't think he ever knew I had such an aversion to it.

So here's the recap.  I hate fire.  I could be type casted as a shoplifter.  And someone is following me.  My fears have wained in their intensity over time which I am grateful for.  I don't think I could subsist on as little of sleep as I sometimes got when I was younger.  The shoplifting one probably will not go away.  I think stores want you to fear shoplifting so those cameras will never stop watching and employees will always be on the look out for the next Bonnie and Clyde.  I don't run as much when it gets dark anymore either.  This is in part because I am quite big and I think I can take care of myself it worse came to worse.  I think we just gradually realize over time that somethings are irrational and we no longer have to fear them quite as much as we did. 
I declare this meeting of the Midnight Society closed.