Each year in October I find myself battling waves of nausea on a near-daily basis. I have a fairly solid theory that it has to do with my commitment to watching, exclusively, only that which falls into the genre of Horror during this month; I fall asleep to visions of axes splitting skulls, possessed children, slashes and flashes of overlarge kitchen knives covered in blood, vampires behaving predictably violently, the sound of screams and composed progressive rock soundtracks. I sleep like a baby (wake up screaming every 1-3 hours).
My nausea might also have to do with October being commonly known as flu season, but I don’t believe in getting sick and rarely commit to such a thing, so that possibility has already been dismissed. However, one other remaining diagnostic possibility might be attributed to the amount of Reese’s Pumpkins I have eaten in the past fifteen days. I stock up on them in certifiably outrageous amounts every time I pass my local pharmacy, which is often, and store them in my refrigerator door—they taste better cold. (It really is too bad for our teeth and our food-storing bodies that candy is probably the most addictive OTC drug widely available in every corner of this country.)
My semi-frequent urge to vomit aside and in spite of the heaviest rainfall I’ve ever seen in this city, October has been a beautiful month. Light falls differently this time of year; blue skies are bluer, there is a golden tinge to the edge of everything, and the air isn’t quite cold but there is a chilliness to it that smells different from summer air. I’d describe it as distinctly spooky. And now, a few recommendations for the remaining 2.5 weeks of October—may you end it with a bang:
Read something terrifying
My favorite seasonal story is Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; I spent a whole semester dissecting this book in college and even after reading and re-reading for three months I still find it genuinely unsettling. You might also try Freud’s The Uncanny; Henry James’ The Turn of The Screw; Nabokov’s Despair; Charlotte Brontë’s Villette, and Bret Easton Ellis’ American Psycho.
Eat like a cat
I have to laugh when my cat and I sit down to eat, essentially, the same meal. His food consists of chicken or fish and vitamins plus, this time of year, a spoonful of pumpkin purée. My meals often consist of chicken or fish plus roasted vegetables such as sweet potatoes, carrots, or butternut squash (roast between 375F and 425F; if you’re using olive oil keep it at 400 or below; avocado oil has a higher smoke point but doesn’t crisp. Cubed carrots take about 35 minutes at 375, sweet potatoes 50 minutes, and butternut squash an hour). Since he tends to finish before me, he kindly helps me clean up my plate. But the reason I have pumpkin purée on hand anyway is because I love a pumpkin chocolate chip bread and have made my mom’s recipe once or a twice (at least) every October with avocado oil, whole wheat flour, sugar, eggs, baking soda, salt, and pumpkin purée with dark chocolate chips. It is best warm but not hot, but I find it extremely difficult to wait a full 30 minutes for it to cool down and therefore typically spend the following days with a painfully burnt mouth. As soon as it heals, I repeat the whole process all over again—to the delight of my cat.
Throw a Halloween dance party
At home alone. Depending on your musical taste, I recommend searching “Halloween party playlist” followed by the key word to whatever genre you prefer. Or, just listen to Monster Mash on repeat. I do.
Make yourself nauseous
By watching one of my favorite seasonal films! My boyfriend and I call this our Halloween trifecta: Hocus Pocus, Sleepy Hollow, and Halloween 1-3. This collection of three covers all desired bases, and none of them ever get old. Other classics include John Carpenter’s Vampires, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, The Lost Boys, Candyman, From Dusk ‘Til Dawn, The Crow, Friday The 13th, The Exorcist, The Witch, I Know What You Did Last Summer, the Final Destination series, Nightmare on Elm Street, Pet Semetary, Suspiria, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Hereditary, The Amityville Horror, It, Scream, and the most terrifying new movie I’ve seen recently: Talk To Me.