Deliver Us From Popcorn

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Tonight I went to the preview screening of the new horror movie Deliver Us From Evil. Just hours before then, I promised myself that I would get back on track with my health, which means that yes, I would have to endure watching the movie in a comfortable cinema chair without popcorn.

And it was a rather difficult task. I have no problem discontinuing the drinking of soda drinks, and I thought that I would be the same way with popcorn - yet in this situation, with the smell of butter coating freshly popped corn kernels and the sound of erratic munching due to the witnessing of horrific scenes, it proved a troublesome task. I did pull through, however, without eating one piece of popcorn. I merely watched my sister eat hers and listened to the rest of the cinema's audience munch on theirs.

It was also the first time for me doing another thing, that is bringing in an apple into the theatre. I held it as casually as I could walking through the shopping centre, held onto it whilst standing in the line collecting our tickets, for I was accompanied by some relatives as well as my sister, and I held it as I passed through the ticket inspection area. It followed me into our cinema, and it sat patiently in my hand through half the movie, at which point I could not handle the sound and smell of the popcorn. I then pulled my hand up to my face and took a gigantic bite of the apple, crunching over the sound of everyone's fatty snacks.

I suddenly felt great about myself. It was a snack that was not salty, it did not leave a greasy mess on my fingers, nor did pieces of it lodge into my teeth or cling to my chest. I did not feel like drinking anything because it was as equally drenched with juice as it was with flavour. However, there was one problem: as much as I enjoyed the taste and texture and smell of this healthy and natural food, it did not nearly last as long as everyone's popcorn did, so there I was again, sitting there with the core of a delicious apple, listening to and smelling everyone's popcorn. If only apples came in the sizes of combo boxes.

Another benefit of popcorn is, apart from the free Spongebob plush toy that my sister received with her popcorn combo, that one can, in the event of a scary scene in a scary movie, hide their face behind the popcorn box, and eventually peek out of the side to stare at the screen which would have a limited view, providing extra safety. The use of my hands to do this job in place of a popcorn box was a tiresome job, and it left my hands smelling like my face, which does not in the last smell bad, but left me smelling what my face smells like for the length of each scary scene.

It is difficult to be overweight in this world, particularly when the food that I need to avoid is the nectar to my bee, the honey to my Pooh Bear, the salmon to my real bear. It is the cough syrup to a sleepless ill child, the beer to Homer, and America to Abraham Lincoln - I cannot do without it. But tonight, I proved to myself that by not acquiring popcorn nor eating it during a scary movie and instead substituting it and other snacks for an apple, I am capable of ensuring my health be placed on track.