Moody or just plain mean?

From Merriam Webster's Dictionary:

moody: Pronunciation: 'mü-dE
Function: adjective
Inflected Form(s): mood·i·er; -est
1 : subject to depression : GLOOMY2 : subject to moods : TEMPERAMENTAL
3 : expressive of a mood

Okay - is it just me, or do some people really thrive on being "moody"? I mean, come on, everyone has their problems, everyone has been dealt their share of difficulties and hardships - but is any problem so bad that you find it necessary to snap at anyone that comes within 50 feet of you?

Perhaps these "moody" people aren't really in a bad mood, maybe their life has just been so hard & terrible that they don't know how to do anything else but to be miserable and mean. It's very hard for me, at best, to understand the mentality of this as I don't think I'm moody at all - although I'm the first to admit that I can get in a terribly bad mood pretty quickly - but usually when I find myself in a bad mood, I tend to bury myself in a book or magazine.

Maybe I just have a different perspective on life, to me life is just too short to waste your time being in a bad mood. I'd rather keep my bad mood to myself then to walk around grouchy and irritable and upset the people around me and in essence alienate them from me. The last thing I want is people "tip toeing" around me/

When it's time for me to leave this world, I don't want people saying "Gosh, she was really moody...", or "Well she certainly had one hell of a mean streak in her..." Instead, I want people to remember me for being a good wife, a good mother, a good daughter, a good sister, a good aunt, a good friend & a good neighbor. I want to be remembered for laughing & smiling despite the hardships in my life. I want people to remember my love for seafood & chocolate & telling jokes and carrying out random pranks.

Ok - done with my rant for the day....