Pajama Sam Toilet

[Vernie Montagna]

Iknow what you're thinking, "reusable toilet paper sounds disgusting, I'll pass". That is the exact same sentiment I had, until I looked into it a little more. For some reason, I imagined my husband and I using the same dirty wipe over and over again for days at a time... which is not at all the reality of the situation.

Cloth wipes not only reduce the amount of resources needed to make toilet paper, they also save a ton of money since they can be washed and reused for years. This week, we started using cloth wipes in addition to a bidet, to reduce the ick factor.

Cloth toilet paper is pretty straight forward. All you have to do is keep a basket or roll of cloth strips next to your toilet and wipe normally. Instead of flushing, you'll put the cloth into a wet bag or lidded bucket/trash can until wash day. Dry with high heat or line dry in the sun.

Due to a medical issue I can't sleep well with tight trousers and wearing a belt. Should I expect any problems if I go to the toilet, put my pyjamas on, go to sleep in my seat and then change back after I wake up and before landing.

Given that some airlines even give you a complimentary pyjama when flying in first class I'd say that it would be perfectly legal for you to wear one on the plane regardless of which class you're flying in. Worst case scenario you'll get some looks from other passengers. Go ahead and fly comfortable.

Yes, you can wear your pajamas during a flight. You might get some strange looks, but there is nothing wrong with wearing them. Other options would be a 'sweat suit' with elastic at the waist and a t-shirt and hoodie for the top.

I have to wear a metallic brace for an arthritic knee, so I either wear comfortable shorts, or a pair of (equally comfortable) zip-off pants so I can easily show the brace to security agents (TSA here in the US). I still get wanded at each security point, but I've only had one agent in Cambodia insist that I take the brace off, but I was able to convince her that it was very inconvenient to do so, so she backed off. This was on a trip with six international flights just recently.

If you're not concerned about your prior appearance or your post flight appearance (you're not being picked up by clients or someone else who expects you to be dressed well), then wear comfortable clothes for the the entire flight.

If you are concerned about your post flight appearance, every airport in the world that I've flown into has large enough restrooms in their arrival halls to easily change into appropriate clothes after you've gotten off your flight and before anyone who matters can see you.

as someone who only wears sweatpants/sweatshirts on planes, nobody will question it. I show up in them, but changing in the bathroom shouldn't cause an issue as long as you can stuff your other clothes into your carry-on. Just make sure, as @Joe Blow said, your pajamas don't let anything illegal out.

It's fine and your fellow passengers won't think twice about it. Just make sure you're wearing undergarments of some kind so people can't see the outline of your genitals. If you're really concerned about it, buy some nicer ones that toe the line between casual and straight up PJs.

Find a CLEAN restroom and change into comfortable clothes before boarding. Alternatively you can change right after boarding. If you wait too long, the restroom floor starts getting dirty, and there's a chance you might get stuff that you don't want on your clothes, especially on your pant leg bottoms.

(This interview lasted so long -- six hours -- that I was ready for a nap in the grotto. At the time, I thought the lead rather risque. But Hef sent a nice note saying he loved it-and that he had thought of me while taking a pee at the Ritz Carlton forced to hold up a broken toilet seat with one hand.)

Shocked silence. Hefner has never heard of the toilet seat debate. He begins to laugh. "My consciousness raising only goes so far," he says, now giggling. (Although he normally wears his black silk pajamas, today he is wearing purple, special for company.) "It never occurred to me that one would put down the seat because the next person might be female. That's a unique notion."

Indeed, it's one of the few points Hefner is unable to expound upon at length in his latest phase - reflective overdrive. A David ("Twin Peaks") Lynch/Mark Frost Productions documentary about him is scheduled to premiere Wednesday at the Chicago International Film Festival, in a sort of cinematic prelude to his 800-page autobiography in progress. With the book already seven years in the writing, he is actively fine-tuning the sweeping themes of his existence.

After leading a "Capraesque" struggle against Puritan sexual repression, which is how he views his role in the 1960s and 1970s, the man who defined the word "playboy" is microcosming again. At 66, Hefner appears to have been tamed by three years of married bliss with Miss January of 1988 and their sons, ages 2 and 1.

Oversized "Children at Play" signs line the narrow driveway leading up to the 6-acre estate in the Holmby Hills neighborhood, next to Beverly Hills. Once inside the faux Tudor chateau, the echo of a screaming toddler ricochets in the monumental marble foyer.

To the right, a child's red wagon filled with toys sits under an oil portrait of Papa Hugh Hefner. A painting of Mama Kimberly Conrad, 30, holds the place of honor on the opposite wall. A small Dali hangs in an alcove. By late afternoon, a Daffy Duck inflatable punching bag has materialized in front of the main door.

A spotted doggy swim toy is now the main piece of paraphernalia in the swimming pool grotto, once the mansion hot spot where the nubiles (all gone) frolicked with the gallants. Now the weight room is the most popular wing of the mansion.

"I gave up the pipe and quit the (amphetamine) Dexedrine. I cut out salt. I cut out sugar. I cut out butter," Hefner says at lunch, speaking of the transformation that his stroke in 1985 began and marriage completed. He looks trim in his black plush non-smoking jacket. Soft gray hair brushes his ears, framing a lightly tanned face.

At first Hefner seems shy, unsure about simple small talk that's not part of the big themes of his life's trajectory. Though distant, he speaks gently, his talk sometimes reaching the mind-numbing, as he goes over the seminal causes of his life like a mantra. He slowly relaxes, though never too much. And why should he relax, the man who even now - particularly now - feels people don't understand what he has done to free America from its Puritan shackles?

As is his habit, Hefner chain-drinks decaffeinated diet Pepsi from the can, having eaten lunch earlier: toast and protein drink. Some days he drinks up to 30 Pepsis, leaving a trail of cans behind like cigarette butts. Ever the gracious host as king of his castle, Hefner sips happily while his guest eats seared sea scallops with angel hair pasta in pernod sauce.

Ah, the excruciating 1990s. Let's go back, back to the time when Hefner was the sheik who built his empire from a harem of willing Bunnies and Playmates, the subject of the new Lynch documentary, "Hugh Hefner: Once Upon a Time."

That project was launched after Hefner saw the half-hour program the Lynch/Frost production company made about him for the "American Chronicles" series on Fox television. A fan of Lynch's "Twin Peaks," Hefner so liked the segment that he approached the company about making a full-length feature on his life. Putting up $1 million to produce the film, according to director Robert Heath, Hefner opened his private archives and gave the filmmakers access to friends and family.

"The writing has been like a self-analysis," says Hefner, who majored in psychology at the University of Illinois but never had therapy himself. "I discovered in the process that the story had all kinds of other layers I didn't see before. I thought . . . this thing is so good, I've got to do it justice."

The projection room's overstuffed leather sofas have seats so deep, you can't lean back and put your feet on the floor at the same time. After fetching another diet Pepsi, bringing an Evian water for his guest, Hefner curls up against the left sofa arm, his legs stretched out on a footstool.

On his trip he'll visit his old haunts, including the site of the first Playboy Mansion, at 1340 N. State Pkwy., and Steinmetz High School, 3030 N. Mobile Ave., where he graduated in 1944. Returning to a favorite spot from his childhood, he'll take his 2-year-old son, Marston, to the Field Museum.

A black-and-white image of a woman in a Teutonic brassiere hits the screen. "Flash Gordon," he says. "I was 10 and it had a big impact on me. In my early years, I was often attracted to women who reminded me of that."

On to the seminal years. Hefner at his kitchen table in 1953 creating the first issue of Playboy. Exeunt first wife and two kids. On to the 1960s, with the Playboy Mansion, syndicated TV shows ("Playboy's Penthouse" and "Playboy After Dark") and the Playboy Clubs.

TV interviews with Hefner and news clips from the 1960s and 1970s show the controversy that followed him at every step. Mike Wallace asks if Playboy magazine isn't just a "high-class dirty book." Feminists object that women are human beings, not bunnies.

At the part about his pill-popping habit (the Dexedrine), Hefner gets up for another diet Pepsi. On the screen it's the mid-1970s and the road is getting rocky. His trusted personal assistant, Bobbie Arnstein, commits suicide after government prosecutors trying to get at Hefner have her sentenced to prison for cocaine possession. Playmate Dorothy Stratten is murdered.

It is this sea change on the Left that most disturbs Hefner. "Liberal no longer means liberal. It means this other political agenda that is very hurtful," he says. "It's part of the feminist movement. It does bother me. Sure it bothers me."

As in every fairy tale, the film ends with a "happily ever after" as Hefner settles down to marriage with Kimberly Conrad. "As good as my life seems from the outside, it's even better," Hefner had said earlier.

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