Like Some Cat from Japan

The Thrilling Adventures of Ana and Karina, Part 2

June 16, 2009 at 10:22 pm | Posted in Uncategorized | 24 Comments
Tags: amusement park, arlington, batman, broccoli, bundt cake, chicken, chocolate, cupcakes, eating disorder, egg, gotham city, larabar, noodles, oatmeal, odwalla bar, panda express, peanut butter, protein, raisins, six flags, tea cake, toast, weight gain

The families continued to parade around the park with Ana and Karina daringly leading the pack. The two girls were in the middle of discussing important matters, such as the burning question: “Would you shave your head for a thousand dollars?”, when Karina felt a wave of hunger take over her empty stomach. She reached into the Hurley backpack her father was carrying and took out one of her favorite Larabars.Before taking a bite, she did a double take of her father and chuckled. Her dad looked like such a dork carrying around her old Rainbow colored Hurley school backpack. It looked a tad…. fruity, as some would say?

The group violently sipped on lemonades, Powerades, and waters in between rides, the majority of them a breeze for Karina and her family:

Shockwave*

Superman: Tower of Power. This was the only ride Karina was not psychotic enough to ride because she doesn’t exactly enjoy the “I’m-about-to-fall-out-of-my-fucking-seat, get-me-down-from-here-or-I-will-bite-your-toe-off” thoughts that she begins thinking when the car comes to an abrupt stop at the top of the tower on these types of rides.

La Vibora, the only coaster that Mr. Philips, Ana’s dad, was brave enough to ride on. You readers may applaud at this grown man’s courage.

Batman! The Pinzon’s all-time favorite coaster, which they have raved about for years for its’ uniquely smooth, foot-dangling thrills.

The group began to complain of hunger when they reached Gotham City as lunch had ended approximately seven hours ago. Karina was feeling confident about dinner time since she noticed a Johnny Rockets, which she recalled had a veggie burger on the menu, close by on their way to Batman’s hometown.

“Lets eat at Johnny Rockets,” Karina suggested. “They have something I’d actually be comfortable eating.”

Everyone in the group was aware of her recent struggles with Anorexia and was more than willing to go out of their way to make her feel comfortable, so they agreed. Upon entering the restaurant, Karina scrutinized the menu with a confused expression on her face.

“Where is the veggie burger? And why are there only five items on the menu?” When she realized that the amusement park only had a limited menu available, it felt like all the blood in her body  began to empty itself into her head. “What am I going to eat? I wouldn’t eat a hamburger. Not even if it were the last thing to eat on earth and I were starving.”

“Get out of there. Remember that you saw a Panda Express not too far from here,” Anorexia quickly came up with a solution. “You could have just a few pieces of chicken and some veggies. That would be enough for you.” She went to Panda Express. But she ate more than just a few pieces of chicken.

However, do not be fooled by the photograph pictured above because unfortunately, Karina did not eat all of that. In fact, she barely ate any of it. She kept finding imaginary pieces of fat on the beef and chicken, which she proceeded to spit out, and found the noodles a tad too greasy and avoided the fried rice like the plague. She really only ate a few chunks of beef, a few chunks of chicken, a few noodles, and lots of broccoli. She also destroyed a spring roll and ate only the veggies inside of it, being cautious that she didn’t eat too much of the pancake since she was aware that it was fried.

Somehow, this measly little meal was satisfying enough for her to get up and say, “I’m full” so the group returned to Gotham City to continue their adrenaline-seeking, which included riding Mr. Freeze.

Ana’s jaw dropped as she stared at the impossibly tall vertical steel rod that Mr. Freeze owned.

“There is no way in hell I am getting on that thing,” she stated. “I’m staying behind with my dad and brother.”

“Uh- well, you kind of have to get on it now,” Karina replied. “When you said you weren’t getting on The Titan, you swore that you would get on everything else.”

Ana felt the nauseating combination of anxiety and regret brewing up inside of her stomach as she climbed up the flight of stairs leading to the roller coaster.

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When the Mr. Freeze riding group reached the top of the stairs, an employee asked them how many people would be boarding the ride.

“Four,” Karina replied, taking her friend by the hand. She could feel her shaking.

“You’re going to be fine. This ride is fun, Ana. It wouldn’t be here if it were unsafe.”

Ana felt as though her heart were about to bounce out of her chest cavity and fall directly out of her butt. The way her stomach felt reminded her of the somersaults she used to perform in the deep end of her swimming pool when she was a child.

“I-I can’t d-do this!” Ana screamed as Karina began to help her strap in.

“I think it’s too late…”

“That… was… AWESOME!” Ana cried with an enthusiastic grin on her face.

The girls unstrapped themselves, climbed out of the coaster car, and shuffled down the stairs to meet up with Ana’s father and brother.

“After that,” Karina’s father began. “You can get on any ride you’d like with no fear. Out of all the roller coasters I have been on in my 53 years of life, this has been the most intense one of all… and you did it.”

Yes, she did.

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The group headed back to the hotel not too long after riding on Mr. Freeze. Prior to leaving the park, the girls watched the Glow-in-the Dark parade and made jokes about “Scooby-Doo-me now!”, and although everyone had fun, the relief they felt upon arriving at the hotel was priceless.

The second they entered the Marriott’s lobby, Ana ran over to their mini-mart and purchased a pint of Chocolate Peanut Butter cup ice cream. She skipped over to a table, pint in hand, and began going at it with a spoon, smiling without a care in the world. Karina stared at her pleasured friend in envy.

“How come SHE can attack a pint of ice cream and not get fat? She’s so perfect and happy.”

Then, it came to her that she wouldn’t become “fat” either if she had some ice cream every now and then. She was a teenager. A human. A nd a part of enjoying life is to treat oneself every once in a while. While Karina knew that this was all true, the little monster living inside her head kept her from having a taste of that delicious looking ice cream.

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Karina felt very impressed when she came down for the hotel’s complimentary breakfast. There was a beautiful display of muffins, breads, fruit, cereals, and other popular breakfast items surrounding and calling out to her. She payed no mind to the muffins but ran straight to the pot of warm oatmeal and added some fresh fruit and raisins to her healthy serving of oats. As she passed the bread shelves, she picked up a slice of whole wheat bread and slathered it with blueberry jam. She scooped up extra fruit on a plate along with some far-too-oily scrambled eggs, which she ended up not eating.

Karina sat down at Ana’s breakfast table.

“How was that ice cream last night?”

“It was so good,” Ana replied. “I ate like, half of the container!”

Stab.

“Mmmm, that sounds really good. Where’s your breakfast?”

“Oh, I already ate. I’m so full.”

“What did you eat?”

“A blueberry muffin, some toast, cereal, milk, orange juice, and a bunch of fruit.”

Stab. Stab.

Karina sighed and looked out the hotel dining area’s giant window. Ana was such a pretty and carefree girl. She was a very healthy eater and was in very good shape, but had the ability to treat herself on special occasions. Karina wished she had that level of moderation and control in her life. She wished that she could eat healthy most of the time like Ana, and not feel guilty if she decided to have a slice of cake or a hotel’s blueberry muffin. Ana just seemed to have the perfect level of balance in her life, something Karina wasn’t used to having anymore.

After breakfast, Karina got ready for the road trip home. The day’s makeup:Stila bronze eyeshadow and winged cat eyes using Urban Decay’s oil slick.

Karina daydreamed the entire way home and started feeling hungry after sitting in the car for 3 hours.

“Are we eating lunch soon? I’m out of snack bars.”

“It doesn’t look like it, honey,” her father called out to her in the backseat. “We are stuck in traffic so we will be arriving at the restaurant in The Woodlands later than expected.”

Oh, how Karina wished that she would have just shared that ice cream with Ana last night so that she wouldn’t have eaten her last snack bar before bed. “That Odwalla bar sure did taste mighty good, though, with a glass of milk last night,” Karina’s monster said. “And you saved a load of calories and fat too.“

“Oh, shut up, bitch,” Karina almost said out loud.

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The two families arrived at the Rockfish in The Woodlands to eat lunch together at around 3 PM. Karina ordered the Roaring River Salmon Salad and enjoyed it. She was far too hungry to remember that she had to take a picture of her plate for her blog, however, and sincerely apolagizes to her readers.

Lunch ended, but the Ana and Karina adventures sure didn’t.

Ana went over to Karina’s house, where the girls baked a million Chocolate Peanut Butter cupcakes^^ in a medley of different shapes.

Muffins:

Tea cakes:

And a mini bundt cake!

Surprisingly, Karina allowed herself to lick the spoon they mixed the batter with and share any batter spilled outside of the muffin pans with her friend. It felt so liberating. She even ate two of the tea cakes! Karina felt like a ‘tough guy” as she punched, kicked, and ripped limbs off of that little monster that had made a home inside of her body almost a whole year ago.

Though Karina is not sure when the fight with that monster will be over, she does know for a fact that in time, she will have…

kicked its’ ass.

* Shockwave was the first adult ride that Eddie had rode on in his life. He lost his coaster virginity that Saturday.

^^ The recipe for these cupcakes will be posted under the recipe page very soon.