The lube arrived a day later via FedEx in snazzy purple (his) and blue (hers) packaging, looking like a pair of wide-berth test tubes. One part phallic, one part weird science.
We gave a jingle to one of our "Cougar Heaven!" subjects, a sweet gal called Ginger. She was more than willing to insert some YOURS+MINE into the fun. "Oooh, I can't wait!" she said when we eventually dropped it off at her south-city pad. She had seen the commercials.
A week later, when we called Ginger to find out how the test-drive went, she positively oozed with pleasure.
Unreal: Did you get to try YOURS+MINE with a young cougar hunter?
Ginger: With my ex-boyfriend.
Get out! Tommy the Tiger?
Yes! He was so impressed that his name was in the paper, he had to come over.
Literally.
Yeah.
The press kit says, "Both partners will be curious about the sensations, providing the perfect scenario for couples to communicate about the experience." True?
Well. I don't know about all that. All I said was, "Do you feel that? Like, oh my God. It's getting cool; now it's getting hot!"
And what'd he say?
He wouldn't like respond to me about it. He was way too excited, I think.
Typical. Have you noticed it glowing by your bedside at night?
No. Should I expose it to sun?
The press kit says it glows in the dark.
Well, hell, I'm going to put it in my window right now, because I'm going to use it again this weekend. It's bizarre how it gets weird, and hot and all tingly, and — it's just strange stuff.
So what's the verdict? Would you plunk down $19.99?
Yeah, I guess, if I was that type of gal.
Unreal's quest for a cougar advice columnist continues. In the meantime, have you got a question for a pastor? A question for a cougar? A question for a cougar and a pastor? Address one and all to [email protected].
Pedal Push
Unreal learned how to ride a bicycle over the course of two summers, with the aid of training wheels and two very patient parents.
(We were 27 at the time.)
(Kidding!)
Apparently others are not so fortunate. Martin Pion, a member of the League of American Bicyclists, has been offering BIKERight classes for adults in Ferguson for the past ten years, and when he rang us up to talk two-wheelers, we got nostalgic.
Unreal: What's the most fundamental part about teaching someone how to ride a bike?
Martin Pion: You're expecting a simple answer, and I don't know if I can give it. What I first try and do is dismiss the overwhelming fear among adults of car-bike collisions. It's not that they aren't important, but adult cyclists are overly obsessed with this fear.
Have you ever had a student who has completely failed to learn?
I had one student, a woman in her thirties. She fell in the parking lot as I was demonstrating the preferred way to start and stop a bike. The reason was her use of so-called clipless pedals, which bind your feet firmly to the pedal like a ski binding. She wasn't able to unclip quickly enough when stopping and fell heavily on one shoulder. She got up and walked away.
Have you ever met anyone who has forgotten how to ride a bike?
Surprisingly, yes. One lady from University City in her forties hadn't ridden a bike in years and no longer had the confidence to do so. She joined my class and sat through the classroom session and then the group went to a nearby parking lot with their bikes for practice. I didn't notice it immediately but this lady was too frightened to even wheel her bike across the road. She never did regain enough confidence to balance her bike and ride it. I was surprised.
Do you have simulators, like in driver's ed, for people like that?
No simulator, just real bicycles!
You're British. Did they give you a hard time about joining the League of American Bicyclists?
Hey, I have American citizenship! And no, President Bush hasn't accused me of any terrorist acts or banned me from joining the LAB yet. It could happen, though, if he reads anything you print.
Unreal One-Liner
The Church of the Shepherd in St. Charles is building an addition where its youngsters can hang out. The new wing won't be finished until January, but already church member Leslie Klingaman is trying to track down someone who can help decorate. What the kids want, she says, is graffiti. Klingaman contacted Riverfront Times in hopes that we could put her in touch with an aerosol-equipped artist. Frequent readers know Unreal to be multitalented, but alas, our probation officer will not allow us to touch a can of spray paint for the next three years. We tried to brainstorm with Klingaman, but she proved to be one tough customer.
Unreal: Have you considered leaving the door open overnight? That seems to work pretty well for vacant buildings in St. Louis — which by the way, don't pay a dime for their art.
Leslie Klingaman: We need to see what it's going to look like before they put anything on the walls. I've seen some of that stuff.
Local Blog O' the Week
"St. Louis Pariah"
http://stlcabbie.wordpress.com/
Author: Umar Lee
About the blogger: Umar Lee is also the author of umarlee.com, a blog about Muslim issues, and wrote a column about being a cabbie for Arch City Chronicle. He writes: "My vantage point is unique. I am first and foremost a Muslim, an adherent of Islam, and I am a white person who came of age in this racially-divided city that still has a lot of bitterness between the races. If you are engaging in any conversation on public life in St. Louis and not talking about race you are not being real because everything in Da Lou is about race."
Recent Highlight (July 28): Blood Line
Around 6 a.m. I was winding it down and driving down Delmar headed towards Kingshighway when I saw a group of about 50 people standing in line in front of a storefront. When I looked over I saw they were standing in line for a blood bank. The type of place that gives you 10 or 20 bucks to give blood or plasma. I snapped a photo on my cell from a distance but didn't want to get an up close shot, it just didn't feel right. Maybe I will bring my buddy Frank Friction one day and we will shoot the scene and actually talk to the people. It is one sign of a worsening economy and another example of America becoming a nation of haves and have not's. Just a few blocks away in the Central West End the globo LDR crowd (Latter-day Rome) sip imported European wines, smoke illegal cigars, snort cocaine at night clubs full of debauchery, buy overpriced goods, eat expensive foods they may not even like, call cabs and then jump in cabs they didn't order with no respect for the driver who just burned gas to pick them up and worry about the sun hitting them the wrong way at the sidewalk café.
Know of an Unreal-worthy local blog? Send the URL to [email protected]
