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The Pen Addict 640/transcript

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The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript
Episode: 640
Title: 10 Things I Love About Stationery
Release Date: November 13th, 2024
Hosts: Brad Dowdy

Myke Hurley

Guests: No guests this episode
Additional Information
Official page: Episode 640
Audio File: Audio Episode 640
Podcast page: The Pen Addict 640
Length: 5656 min <br />0.933 h <br /> minutes
Previous Transcript Next Transcript


  • From Relay, this is The Pen Addict, episode 640. Today's show is brought to you by Ooni Pizza Ovens and Factor. My name is Myke Hurley, but here's the man you've been waiting for, Brad Dowdy. Hi, Brad.
  • Are you sure? Yeah, I expect every week from like, as soon as people finish with a show, they're just, they're waiting for the next one, because they're waiting for you again, you know? Well, I'm not going to lie, when I wrote this episode, I was like, huh, I didn't really include Myke in any of this, so yeah. Myke's here. Enjoy your coffee, or your latte, whatever you have on your desk. Yeah. I'm just going to talk a lot about stationery, Myke. He's always there, he's around, that guy. Yeah, yeah.
  • Before we start, you, yeah, you did something to me. I'm setting the mood today. Based on something I wrote in the show notes, you were needling me, Myke. No, I decided to pick out a piece of follow-up that came in, and it came in in the last couple of days, so I've picked it out, comes from Richard. Richard starts, like all follow-ups should start by saying, you are the best. Richard knows what's coming, right? Richard knows.

Correct spelling of "stationery" and its significance.[edit]

  • But. Richard knows, right? Richard knows what he's going to do, all right? So he's starting off, says, you're the best, but please spell stationery correctly. As the show is specifically focused on stationery, it is a rookie error to misspell stationery so frequently. Stationery, not stationery.
  • Now, I get it, right? Like, I get it. I do. He's not wrong. He's not wrong. Richard, you're not wrong. I want you to know that, Richard. You're not wrong. We did just talk about this, though, Richard. So, like, if you're listening to the show, we, and I know this doesn't work for people, right? Like, in a way that I've come to understand over time, where, like, you say a thing on the show, and you expect people going to listen, and they don't listen. And I'll say, you know, this is a safe space. I love Jason Snell. He's my co-host on Upgrade. I think Jason has this issue the most, where he wants, and I understand it, he wants people to remember the things that he has said, so he's not constantly answering the same things over and over again. But, like, we did just a couple of weeks talk about the fact that, if you were very upset about this, that Google Docs, right, changes your words after you type them. Yeah. Specifically stationery. stationery.
  • Yes. The word stationery. It changes it from the meaning that it should mean for this show, the, you know, tools, and it changes it to in position, you know? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. It's basically, it's a computer issue. It's not a host of the stationery podcast issue. You know. The hosts of the stationery podcast definitely know how to spell stationery. It's a copy-paste issue. It's a beating my head against the computer screen issue. No matter how many times I change it, it wants to flip it back. The bots believe that there's only one way to spell stationery, and that's with an A, and we've tried to correct them many times over the years. It's an editing issue. Sometimes when we copy and paste, we check it and fix it, and then it just zoops back on there. I think I could do a better job. Sometimes when we miss it, and maybe don't reread it for, like, the 10th time. I think I could do a better job. Like, when I'm copying and pasting, I'm the final line of defense here. So, I will agree, Richard, I should be doing a better job. This is not on Brad. We have spoken about it already. Brad tries his best out here, you know? But I feel like maybe I need to be, I need to be, like, paying attention to it more, maybe. I don't know. Yeah. And it's one of those things y'all can just text me and say, hey, y'all got got. Like, literally, that's what it is. We're not spelling it wrong, is we got got. We got got, yeah. And you can just say, we got got. Hey, you got got. And I'll go in there and put it in and switch it to an E. Then I'll do it five times because it's going to force me to put it. It's going to tell me, nope, it's actually an A. It's going to tell me five more times, nope, it's actually an A, until I finally get it to stick. And then we'll update it. Who do you think is paying Google off?
  • I was going to say big station, big, big Peloton, I guess. Big Peloton? Yeah. Stationary bikes. Big Peloton, I think. Someone's influence. Someone's got their thought on the scales here. And I need to take this one right to the top because I think it goes deeper than we could have imagined. Who's the space company in WALL-E? That's who's paying them off.
  • Big E something, I think. Yeah, they need us in those mobile devices and just the feeding tubes.
  • So whoever the space company is and WALL-E, that's who's paying off Google, I believe. They're kind of like basically Amazon, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. They're meant to be like... Yeah, so we never have to move. We just sit in our chair and everything is handled for us. So yeah.
  • By and large. Thank you, Kate. By and large. By and large, yeah. By and large is paying off. Stationary industrial complex. Yep. Yep. So now that's set the mood. And I'll just say, Richard, no harm. No harm. Absolutely not. No, no, no, no, no, no. Yeah. No, we need to know that we got got. Seriously. Like I have to change this all the time. Just open your favorite social media app. Send a message to me and Brad. Somehow just says, you got got. And we'll know what that means. Yep. Or I will forget because I forget too. Absolutely. You know, being realistic. And I'll say, what are you talking about? You know? That's what I'll do. Yep. Yep. So no, I appreciate it. We want to know. But it is an issue that it's sometimes out of our hands. Even though, like Myke said, we are the last line of defense. We can look at it that one last time after it's published to make sure. But it's still, you'd be shocked how much of an annoyance this is. If you couldn't tell. If you couldn't tell. We got got once again. I changed it, by the way. It was in last week's episode. After I got this feedback, I went in and changed it. So yeah. And I can go in and I've gone in and changed them before. It like, it just happens. So yeah. Woo. Embarrassing. It is embarrassing though, you know? Oh, I hate it. It drives me. It's embarrassing. Obviously drives me up the wall. Why are they doing this to us? You know? I just want to, I just want it to learn. Like in this document and from these people, it's an E. Like that, that's it. Like where, where is my machine learning, Myke? I feel like I'm. Great question.
  • Like this should be for me. Yeah. I don't get it. So I don't get it. So now that we've gotten that out of the way, do you want to set up the bulk of today's episode?
  • Excuse me. Yeah. So the bulk of today's episode came because I was mad yesterday. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Discussion of anxiety and its depiction in "Inside Out 2".[edit]

  • And not mad at like anything other than just, hey, all of this, you know, waves, hands, hands, all of this. So like I have noticed and y'all can fast forward for like a couple of minutes if you don't want to hear me talk about like personal stuff and anxiety and depression. So content warning, you know, real quick for a very short amount of time. But hey, I have very high anxiety and prone to depression. I've been on meds for going on 20 years now. The meds help. Thank you, science. But yeah. Have you seen, have you seen Inside Out 2? No. Oh, Brad. Okay. I'll watch that one. I've seen the first one. Change this in your life. Change this in your life. Okay. I will fix that. All right. I'm going to just share this. We're going to get into it now. We're never going to get to today's topic. All right. It's just not happening now. We're off now. We're off with a racist now. So just buckle up, everyone. All right. I am also a person who, I just assumed I had anxiety, right? Like that I suffer anxiety. I know that I worry about things and I overthink things. And like people would mention, including my therapist, talk to me about anxiety. And like, I just don't, I just didn't know what it meant. Like I didn't understand. Like people would explain anxiety to me and I just wouldn't understand it. It's just kind of like, oh, you mean like always? Like, you know, I don't, I just didn't really know what it meant.
  • The way that anxiety is depicted in Inside Out 2, so good. I watched it in the cinema. I was straight up like uncontrollably crying in the cinema because I felt like I could see myself. And like the way in which it visually depicts the way, like visually depicts the emotion of anxiety and what that can do and what that leads to. It was just like, oh my God, I understand now. Like you've got, have you seen Inside Out? Yeah. Yeah. You've got, this is on Disney Plus now, Inside Out 2. Okay. Like, trust me, man. Yeah. I noticed a bunch of people have been saying they've been watching it. They've been watching it. It gets out of hand, you know? Correct. So, it's, yeah, it's like a very empowering movie and it's hilariously like, it's ostensibly the Inside Out movies are there to help children understand their emotions. Turns out, also works on nearly 40-year-old men. Yeah, absolutely. You know? So, yeah, like it's, it's, it's a thing and like we all like try to handle these things differently and, you know, like mine manifests in just like wild mood swings, right? Right. Like I just, like I'm very swingy. And we're talking for like, not like days or weeks at a time, but for like a couple hours, like I'll just, I'll just hit the deck, right? And I'm just like done and I can't work and then I'm mad because I'm mad and I'm mad because I'm not doing anything. And I'm mad because I want to do something, but I'm mad that I'm mad that I'm mad. And it just like, you just get really cycled up.
  • And that's how it manifests for me.
  • So, I was having like a really good day yesterday. It's getting a lot done and, you know, it was super. And then just mid-afternoon, I was like, huh, well, this sucks. I was like, I can't do anything. Like I have stuff to do. I can't do anything. So, I just kind of, you know, meandered for an hour or two around the house, not doing anything, scrolling on my phone, which is absolutely unhealthy.
  • And then just getting madder and madder that I can't do anything. And then I finally just, you know, sat back down at my desk. And I did one of those things that I rarely do, but it really works to break me out of it. It's like, I'm just going to make a list. I am going to, so, think about what I like.

Writing a list of 10 things loved about stationery as a coping mechanism.[edit]

  • You know, I like stationery. What are 10 things that I love about stationery? So, I told, like, this is how I got out of it yesterday. I told myself, okay. And I hadn't written the show notes or anything yet for the show, so I didn't really have any plans for today. This wasn't really for that. It's like, I'm going to write 10 things I love about stationery. Go. Like, literally go. And I think I wrote down 10 things in about five minutes. And, like, these were all the first things that popped into my head. So, I think let's go through these things. All right. I love it. Yeah. So, a lot of these things, like, if you've heard, if you've been a long-time listener to the podcast, some of this isn't going to be, like, new or revelatory. But it, like, that's okay. Like, I was trying to fix myself yesterday. This is part of how I did it. And so, I'm going to tell you the 10 things that I wrote down. And number one. This is, like, 10 things I hate about.
  • How I met your mother? No.
  • Because it's not, like, it's obviously not 10 things I hate. It's 10 things I love. But I guess it's, like, 10 things I hate to not love. I don't know. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm around there somewhere. I'm trying to double negative this and I'm struggling. Your point, the point that you don't know that you're making that I'll make for you is I'm a generally positive person. Yeah. And, you know, I like to talk about the positive. And there's really not many things I just genuinely hate about stationery. So, I'm not going to go and do, like, a rage writing type of situation. I rarely rage. I, like, get down and moody. I rarely get, like, anger and stuff like that. So, this was something. And it ended up, long story short, this ended up working for me. And I felt better after I did this. And I was pretty happy about it. But, so, number one, I love fine nibs. And by fine, I mean needles. So, some of this is just me writing things down. This is literally, like, a brainstorming session. So, getting off of or out of Ticonder October, which I got feedback that the British pronunciation of Ticonder October is much preferred over the American English pronunciation. I just thought you should, I'll just give you a shout out there. I don't know what that means.
  • That means they like you saying it better than me. Are we saying, does it sound any different when I say it? To me, it doesn't. Apparently. Apparently. I stumble over it more than you do. You flow it. Yeah. Maybe it's not American. It's just Brad versus Myke. Like, have you ever considered that? I've always had a hard time saying that word ever since you invented it. Right. So, yeah. That's a tough one.
  • So. The more yous in the version that I say or something. Like, what's the deal? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. It's very colorful when you say it.

Using an ultra extra fine Platinum 3776 pen and its impact on writing.[edit]

  • So, once I got out, started using pens again. The first pen I wanted to ink up was an ultra extra fine. Platinum 3776, which we've talked about in the past couple weeks. If you haven't heard me talk about that, listen to just the last, I don't know, episode or two. I talk a lot about that pen.
  • And one of the things I did last week was I used it a lot last week. And I used it, like, in my planner. In my plotter. And I was looking back at just my week. Like, doing, like, my recap. And I was like, dang, I love how my letters look with this. Like, that makes me really happy. And those are the things, if you recall, back in episode probably one, where I talk about gel ink pens and these ultra extra fine lines that I like. I still really, really like that, even though I don't use that type of pen as much anymore. And I want to start using that type of pen more. Because, you know what? That's what I love. And that's what really makes me excited. That's what makes me enjoy looking at the page when I'm done with it. How my writing turns out. So, more ultra extra fine nibs. More 0.3 millimeter gel inks. More posting nibs. Anything, anything like that. I didn't realize this next little sentence I wrote down has multiple meanings. Until this morning, right before the show, I was rereading some of the things that I wrote. I wrote down in this brainstorm concerning needle tips. I want the page to feel my pain. Oh, baby. Let's go. And I was meaning physically. Like, my sharp pen on the page. I don't want to tear up the page when I write. But then, just this morning, I was like, huh, there's a little bit more meaning to that. Poetry in there, man. I did not intend that additional meeting at the time that I wrote this, just to be clear. My Chemical Romance kind of vibes going on right now. Yeah. Welcome back, My Chemical Romance. So, I'm kind of glad I missed that phase. I'm okay with that. And I'll probably get some mail on that. Man, I had tickets to see them and then COVID. And they did the show, but it was still too soon for me. So sad. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. All right. Number two, I love colorful ink. Bright, popping off the page. Yes, even in fine nibs. I would just like to stop you for one second. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just to say real quick, for number one, I like blue nibs. That's what I like. You know? I'm like, I want there to be so much ink the page is wet. Like, that's what I want. That's fun for me. I like my fountain pens to feel like Sharpies. Like, give me that, you know? Yeah. It's not what I want all the time, but I have just to really enjoy that feeling. And then I will also say, I also love colorful inks. Yeah. We got to get this signature nib into your hand. Yeah, I want to try that. Yeah. Because to Myke's point, you know, like we can love, you know, completely opposite ends of the spectrum things and still both have the same overall love for stationery with an E. I think bright green inks were what kind of turned me. I was always, when I was a kid, you know, I always wanted to find like the alternate inks than blue and black and red and green. And purple was usually about the only option. Every now and then you could get an orange. But it really took fountain pen inks, not even like the gel, the cool gel inks that I use, like the 0.3 millimeter Pilot Hi-Tech C Colito, where you can pick all the different colors. They had some really cool yellows and some cool bright blues. And I really enjoy those gel ink colors. But actually it was the fountain pen inks that made a little bit of difference to me because gel inks are generally like saturated and flat, right? Where fountain pen inks can be saturated and flat or you can find certain ones that have character. Like I didn't know what shading was when I started using fountain pens and I would write with one and I would wonder why my ink was two different colors. I was like, I don't, I literally remember having to ask about, is there something wrong? At the time, seeing a green ink with two different colors.
  • And even though like, it's the same nib, same paper, same ink. It's like, yeah, that's how the ink spreads. And that's how the nib applies the ink to the page. And then that's like the characteristics that you get. I'm like, oh, so yeah, like a bright ink, green ink was like, kind of, kind of changed my mind. But even something like a yellow fluorescent highlighter, right? When I see like a yellow fluorescent highlighter on a page, it's like, holy cow, that just looks cool. Like I really like the brightness and the colorfulness. And I guess that's just the antithesis of what we've always seen is black ink on a white page, right? Printed digitally. You know, in, in, in, even writing, handwriting, even like generally we're used to that, you know, for 99% of the writing out there. And then you get into this hobby and you're like, oh, like the whole world has opened up. So I love that. I love that. So what's, what's one of your favorite colorful inks right now?
  • I mean, I immediately go to Ackerman. Yeah. Yeah. Like Ackerman 28 is kind of the one I was thinking about when I was writing this. And there's another one that I think you like. And that was kind of an early kind of important ink for me was Califolio and Chernobyl. Yeah. See, I was thinking about that, but then what I was trying to remember, this is the issue. It's my new one. Oh, I think it's Sailor Ink Studio 731, which I think is the really bright pink, which I've come to love even more. It's, it's more Barbie, which is what I'm, what I'm looking for. Yeah. And I wouldn't even say and Chernobyl's bright. I'd just say it's just, it's like a hot pink. It's just different. It's like, it's a very saturated color.
  • But like what I'm. But it's different and abnormal. Yeah. And, and I feel like it, it maybe has a bit of purple in it, you know, like it's got, it's on that kind of show where I'm looking for like pink, pink. I want like pink, pink, you know? Yep. Yep. Yep. Yep. So, and I even use this in my ultra extra fine nibs because when you have, what ends up happening is me, I might not get like the, the line, the individual character, characteristics of the ink on these lines. What I do get is the bulk view when I write, you know, a paragraph is together and it's like, oh yeah, that's fresh. That's fresh. I was also initially thinking when you, when you asked me on that question, it was something that wasn't the answer, but it was something I was just thinking about because she said highlighter. Do you remember the Pelican highlighter? Oh, absolutely. Like the fountain pen highlighter with the highlighter ink, which is just like such a fun thing that does not work. It doesn't work. Absolutely not. The way that you want it to, because if you're trying to use ink with ink, it's just smearing, you know, like there's no way around it, but what a fun product to exist. I love it. The M205 duo highlighter with the ink. Yep. So they did a yellow one, you know, fluorescent yellow and fluorescent green for that. And it was really, really cool. What a great time.
  • Yeah. All right. Number three. I love how stationery feels. Yep. And I mean, just like the tactile-ness. Like this is not a ranking list. This is literally the order that they just came out of my head. This might be like, if we had to rank the importance of all these things, this might be number one. Right? I like how different pens feel. I like how different nibs feel. I like how graphite feels. I like how it sounds. Mm-hmm. Right? Like I, using my ultra-fine nibs on like a good piece of paper, you can hear it. It's like, I like that. Like I like scratchy. Like I like that type of vibe. Like some people like glassy. Like you might be more in the glassy camp with a broader nib. Um, I can feel the difference in paper just by feeling the paper. Right? I like, I've tried to describe paper sometimes as firm. Right? I like a firm sheet of paper where if you lift a sheet and you kind of wave it in the air, you can hear it crinkle where some papers, you know, are just more soft, uh, you know, sounding. Like I like hearing that, those different acoustics from paper. Like it's, it's one of those weird things that I really, really love. I was like, oh, I would love very, very firm paper. That's why I like the original Tomoe River paper was really good for that. Like it was thin, but it was very firm and crinkly. Where something like Cosmo or Light is thicker and softer and pillowy. And yes, those are all descriptors of paper. Papers can vary greatly, which are things that we've learned over the years. So, um, that's, that's a big time thing for me. And then how the actual tip of a pen feels on the page. So yeah, tactileness in stationery is kind of everything, right? If it doesn't, if a product doesn't feel good, like a pen in your hand or a pencil in your hand, it doesn't matter how good that pen should be, right? If you just don't like holding it and using it. But yeah, like you're, you're not going to get very far with it. So that's something I think about a lot. Permit me to talk business for a moment. Like one, one of the things that I've really been trying to work on this year, um, is how to display items as luxury. When, when you can't put it in someone's hand. So like, how do you show a product to be luxurious on Instagram or whatever? And where one of the places I'm landing is like the products that we make at Cortex Brand. Like a lot of paper goods, they have a good tactility to them. And tactility comes across in sound. And a lot of our products have good noise to them. Like the way they sound to open and tear and how it sounds when a pen scratches across the paper. Like they just sound good. Um, and I think that's one of my very favorite things about all of stationery is the tactility and trying to find a way to get that across to someone. As like, this is why, you know, like all these materials are chosen because they're high quality. And just the essence, the essence of high quality materials in stationery just tend to make good noise. Yep. Yep. It's one of the great like features of a wooden pencil when people don't understand why they like a wooden pencil. So in it, just listen to it. Yeah. Right. I don't care how it works or what you're writing on. You can hear it and feel it in your hand. And that's something different. Like that's something, something special, I think about stationery. I agree.
  • All right, let's take a break. Let's do it. Thank our friends over at Ooni Pizza Ovens for their support of this show. Uni is the world's number one pizza oven company because they let you make restaurant quality pizza in your own home. Ooni Pizza Ovens can reach up to 950 degrees Fahrenheit cooking pizza in as little as 60 seconds. This high temperature is what separates the pieces that you make in an Ooni Pizza Oven to what you would make in a conventional oven. Forget about the conventional oven. You're just not going to get the pizza you want. What you want is the pizza you can get from an Ooni Pizza Oven.
  • Their ovens are really quick to heat up. You'll be ready to go in just 20 minutes from getting it started, which is just enough time to get all your toppings ready. And getting it started, there are a bunch of ways to do that because there are a bunch of ways to fuel Ooni Pizza Ovens. They have a whole range of products with different types. So whether you want wood-fired flavor or you want the convenience of cooking with gas or whether you'd like the convenience of choice. You know, maybe you want an oven where you could choose wood, charcoal or gas or even electricity. There is an Uni oven for you. Uni designs ovens like the wood pellet-fueled Fyra 12 and the multi-fueled Karu 12G. These are made with maximum portability in mind. It's made for those who like cooking on the go and getting out into the wilderness. They have the Uni Vault, which is an electric pizza oven, which you can use indoors and outdoors. And then they also have stuff like the Uni Karu 2 Pro, which is this ultimate wood fire cooker. It's incredible. It really is doing an amazing job. And then they also have like if you want to go for it, you can go to Dakota 2 Max, which is so big. You can cook two pizzas next to each other inside of this thing. It's really amazing stuff. I have a couple of pizza stones in there so you can cook large stuff. You could cook multiple pizzas together. But it's not just pizzas. You can cook anything. You can cook in an oven. You can cook in a Ooni Pizza Oven. Juicy burgers, sizzling fajitas, buffalo wings, desserts. It doesn't matter. They have loads of great options and they have loads of great recipes in their app, which is really helpful to help you get started too. They also sell cast iron cookware pizza peels. The moment is everything you're going to need to make the best possible pizza in your own home. Their ovens start from just $299 and they have free shipping to the US, the UK and the EU. Because you listen to the show, you can get 10% off your purchase of an Ooni Pizza Oven. Just go to uni.com, O-O-N-I.com and use the code PENADDICT2024 at checkout. Let's be real, all right? Holidays are coming. This will make an incredible gift. Ooni Pizza Ovens are the best way to bring restaurant quality pizza to your home. Go to uni.com, O-O-N-I.com. Use the code PENADDICT2024 and you'll get yourself 10% off. Thanks to Ooni Pizza Ovens for the continued support of this show and Relay. Can I tell you a funny Uni story? Yes. I didn't know they were sponsoring.
  • This is more of an algorithm story than anything. But you know where else a uni oven comes in real handy, Myke? On your yacht.
  • Oh, hello. So let me lay this out. Let me lay this out for you. So I watch a lot of chef and restaurant YouTube, right? So like, and I've seen plenty of unis being used by chefs in restaurants. And actually, when I went to Stationery Fest, I went to a pizza place. They weren't cooking like dinner, but they, in the uni, but they had like uni where they would like do classes and do uni. So I see them everywhere. They're wonderful. So my YouTube algorithm says, oh, he likes chefs cooking weird and fun stuff. And hey, here's a chef that cooks on a yacht. I was like, okay, let me go watch this chef that cooks on a yacht. And apparently, this yacht is like a big deal. It's called Motor Yacht Loon.
  • So some people might have actually heard of it because they have like gobs of gobs of followers on YouTube where they just, the crew just basically does like normal stuff and they just film it. So the chef, like they were out cooking for an outdoor party on the back deck and had two of the uni Karu 16s that I have propped up there on the deck cooking pizzas for the guests. Everyone was making their pizzas and they were cooking up there on the deck. So if you have a yacht, you need to get an uni or two.
  • I mean, what, you know, what do you get for the person who has everything? Right, right. I mean, clearly, clearly. But I thought that was funny. I actually pointed that out to my wife. She's like, oh, we need to get our uni out and learn how to do the sandwiches. I was like, yeah, we need to do that.
  • Anyway, that was my fun uni stories. I love that you're on your TikTok or whatever, you know? Yeah. See chat in the discord even knows. Yeah. This is Nina. This is chef Nina Wilson. She is very famous yacht chef. And yeah, it's really cool. So there's a thing for everything. You know, there is. I this. Yeah. This was not something that I ever went out looking for. And now I'm like hooked into the to the the yacht crew content. They are very mad about whatever that show was below deck or something that came real famous because they're like, yeah, this is not how it goes. So they are. They're adamant about just being normal and doing doing rich people yacht stuff. I'll put the normal stuff. The crew chef in the show. It's a follow by pen addict. I see. Yep. Thanks. All right. Let's get back into the things I love about stationery, which reminder this list was made to get me out of my funk yesterday. We haven't done it yet. What? Oh, shout out of the week. Shout out of the week. This is a good one, too. Incredible colors. So this is a blog I follow away has put out this blog for years and years and they go to the Tokyo International Pen Show, which was last weekend. So go check out their blog recap of tips. Twenty twenty four. It's a really it's a really good show report because they talk about like from the moment like they buy their ticket, how the ticket purchasing works, how the entry in the show works. Because in in the in our market, like in the US or even in Europe, it's a little bit different how this show set up. And Bruce, who we had who helps run the show with his wife, Karu. We talked to Bruce a few months back about running the show and they do things different. Like they made they make a point like, hey, we do things differently. So, you know, you need to just if you're planning on coming, we'd love to have you. We try to make it easy for you. But there are a couple of little different things that that we do here. So they did a really good job. We did a really good job of explaining all that in this blog post. I really enjoyed it. And there's some good pictures. And I've been following a lot of the content on Instagram from tips. It was just really cool. Got to see a lot of people that I knew there, including Drew Brown, who joined the crew over at Tokyo Inklings podcast. Jacob and see why who did a live recording from.
  • Yeah, from tips. So the latest Tokyo Inklings podcast, which I haven't listened to yet. Do they have an audience? I don't know. I don't know. In the past. Maybe one day, guys, you know. You know. I want to start some drama. Let's start some drama. I know. In the past, they've like recorded in the room and you hear like ambient noise. But I don't think they've ever they had like a direct audience. But they might. They might this time. I mean, because they they got Drew was there. And Drew brings the crowds, man. So. That's true. So I look forward to listening to that. I'll probably do that today.
  • All right. Item number four in Brad's rage list of love. That's a that's a good that's a good album title, I think. So, yeah, this is a little bit of a backhanded one. But this is the state I was in when I wrote this. I love playing Tetris with ink bottles. Literally the worst storage. But satisfying when it gets solved.
  • So this was just a couple days ago.
  • I was trying to reorganize a little bit in the closet of doom where I keep all my stationery, like all the boxes and notebooks and pen cases and ink bottles. And I avoided the ink bottle. I avoided the ink bottle shelf knowing that I needed to dedicate some time to it. And I know when I get this done, I'm going to be very happy with it. So is it making me happy right now? Do I love this right now? No. But I am going to love fixing it because I'll get to reorganize, get to look at things that I haven't used in a while. And I get to make the shelving situation of my ink bottles. I'll get to solve the Tetris problem that ink bottles cause. But they are the worst stationery items to store in any coherent fashion, bar none. It's fine if you just have one brand, right? And that brand has a sensible option. So I'll go back to the Sailor Ink Studio again, right? Really nice little bottles. They're all square. They even have a good system where you can label them, right? They include labels. Right. So you can label the boxes.
  • That's great. But nobody really does that. You just have one ink brand. The thing is we get lots of inks from different brands and all the bottles are shaped differently. So you have to kind of squeeze them in. And it is incredible how if I take one bottle of ink out of a drawer, I can't get it back in again. Like why? There's only one bottle. Like what's happened? And you have to stall all over again. Yep. This is one area where I very adamantly say keep your boxes, right? Normally, I don't care whether you keep packaging or not, even pen packaging. Like unless you're planning on selling the pen or whatever, like you're never going to use it again. Keep your ink bottle packaging because it's going to make it easier to stash. I used to just throw them away in the beginning. And then, which was fine when I had 10 bottles of ink. They could just sit there on the shelf. And then it's like, oh, I want to stack these on top of each other. Well, you've blown that by throwing away any packaging that they come in because that's not happening. Unless you get those giant Scrubo brick bottles that stack on top of each other, but they weigh like five pounds each. So if you've seen those out there before, you'll know how just of a menace those ink bottles are. But they technically stack with each other. So, yeah.

The joy of finding the perfect pen for specific tasks and sharing it with others.[edit]

  • All right. Number five. I love how one person can find one pen that only works for them when they need to write that one thing. And then they can share it with us and we get it. Right. This is like the core of it. And also, just for the record, this is just this is unedited. I don't know if I'm making coherent sentences. I just copied down what I wrote onto the page here.
  • This is the core of what I do and what I believe in. Sure. That is one of the reasons why the pen addicts started, you know, just having, you know, the opportunity to share what I like and learn what other people like. And then subsequently over the years help people find the one thing that really works for them. Now, I've helped certain people find 100 things that work for them. That's a different part of the hobby. So, some of us have 200 things that work for them. But, you know, it really just boils down to the one pen you're using at a time and figuring out how that works for you, why it's important for you, what paper works with this pen or pencil. And then having the opportunity to share that, you know, share that discovery with someone who goes, yes, that is awesome. Which that's the hard part these days. Like, we can do that. And I actually have something about this later. Now, we get to say these things out loud more frequently where before, you know, in the early days of the internet or, you know, when you're just at home or in school or at work trying to find like a really nice pen. You didn't really get to share that with anyone. So, I love that we can all have that one thing that just really, really is special to us and works perfect for whatever situation we're putting in. And we get to share it. So, yeah.
  • All right. Number six, I love stickers and washi tape. Don't know what to do with either. Literally peel and stick anywhere. I promise seeing them in random places will make you smile.
  • Not everyone can do this. You know, sometimes you just don't want to stick stickers in random places. But I've got this new habit of when I get like gel ink pens that have the barrel stickers. I peel those off and I stick them on the back cover of one of my notebooks that I use. That's interesting. That's fun. I like that. There's only, yeah. So, just do stupid stuff with your stickers. It's kind of like people like collecting banana stickers. Yeah, exactly.
  • I love stickers. Like sometimes stickers have been a problem for me. Like the fact that every desk in my office is covered in some form of Steven because of fundraisers we've done. That's not a love for stickers. But I like I have on my laptop. If I get a computer that I truly love, I will put stickers on it. So, my MacBook Air, my M2 MacBook Air, which I expect I will have for many more years to come. I have started stickering it now. So, and like that makes me so happy because I feel like it's mine. Like I have a water bottle. I put stickers on my water bottle and I put stickers on my journal too. Like I like to put stickers on things. Usually it's like I get stickers of things that I like, you know, either I buy them or they're included in an order or something. Like it's stuff that I already enjoy, you know? Yep. Yep. So, yeah. Like if you don't know what to journal or you're stuck, grab a sticker or a washi tape and just stick it on your page. And there you just journaled. Like you had a moment. You had a feeling. You took a sticker. You put it on the page. You're good. Like just like make it easy. So, I love this stuff. I love having that stuff around.
  • Number seven. I have a feeling you might have some commentary on this one. I don't know.
  • But this came out of a question I got asked recently.
  • I love bags that are great for stationery and poor for technology. Huh.
  • So, there is a way. Not a way. There is a type of bag. You know, any technology can go in a bag these days. Like with the smallness of things like phones and tablets and even computers that are now small form factors. But sometimes I don't even want the opportunity to put a digital device in a bag that I'm just using for stationery. And the reason why this was in my head when I was doing this list is because I just answered a question. Someone wanted to carry like four A5 notebooks together plus all their pens and accessories. And when you stack like four, once you get into like that realm of stationery carry, you get just big enough to where small bags are a problem. But not big enough to where, well, now you have this backpack with a laptop slot and a water bottle slot and all these things. And there's nothing wrong with that. There's nothing wrong with filling up all the bags and using all the things. But sometimes you just want a stationery bag. Yeah. You know, like tote bags would be like the basic example of this. Tote bags generally have no internal storage. They would be good for bulk carry of notebooks, right? They're not great for you to throw your laptop in, even though some people do, right? So like a tote bag, that's why we actually see a lot of tote bags at pen shows. Like I think tote bags are great. I use a bag called the Rickshaw Bonsai Bag, which is a small compact like rectangle that's not too big. Like I can't fit my laptop in it, right? But I mean, I could fit an iPad in it if I wanted to or whatever. But I don't. Like I use this. What goes in here are notebooks and pen cases and scissors and other pouches that I'm carrying like, you know, other accessories in and things like that. So I love bags that answer like one question, even though I'll turn around and make another list and say, I love bags that can do it all, right? This is not like a, you know, like a tit for tat type of thing. I'm not saying this is the only way. I'm saying from a stationery perspective, I want a stationery bag. And I love thinking about that concept of just having an option for stationery. And you're like, I love bags. You love bags. And a lot of people in the stationery realm love bags because we have a lot of needs for carrying. And I want, I like having a bag just for my stationery stuff. Bags are interesting to me because like I love bags, right? Like I think it's like another thing to love bags. But I don't treat bags the way I do a lot of other things that I love. My ideal for bags is to buy one and use it a really long time, which is not really how I treat most of the other things that I enjoy to that degree. Like I have my favorite bag, like absolute favorite bag that I use every day is the Tokyo Tote Pack from Bellroy, where it is like, it's a tote backpack. It's like, it's a backpack, which is shaped like a tote, but it has backpack straps on it. You know, and I think that that is a like, just like a really good, it's a small bag, but I can put my laptop in it. But I, you know, for commuting, having tote bag handles on the top as well as backpack straps is like, for me, the perfect combo.
  • I've used this bag for five years now, like the same one. And that makes me happy, you know, like that. I like that more than anything that I've had this one bag. Like they don't even make the color that I have anymore. I have like a green one. I just think it was a limited edition one at the time. But yeah, I've used it and it's still, still kicking. And I'm going to use this thing until something breaks and then I'll buy a new one. It's nothing, nothing beats that. They make a little one now too. Well, they make a little one and a big one. I actually don't know what my size would even be. They do a 14 and a 20 liter.
  • Probably, you probably have a 20. 14 is actually pretty, would be pretty small to carry on a bag. Yeah, I think I'm looking at it. I think I have the 20 because it says it can only go up to 13 inches device. But I know I had a bigger laptop than that in there.
  • Yep. All right. We got, what do I have? Three more? That was seven. You're up to seven. Let me take a break. Let me take a break and we'll finish it out today. I think we're going to get this, this whole episode is going to be your 10 things I love about you or whatever.
  • This episode is brought to you by Factor. I don't know about you, but sometimes when the days get shorter, those to-do lists, or they get longer. The good news is that you can power through your busy days with Factor's no prep, no mess meals. From breakfast to dinner and anything in between, Factor has easy, nutritious options to keep you fueled and feeling your best. Whether you like routine or you enjoy to mix things up and keep it fresh, you can choose from 35 different delicious meals every week and over 60 additional convenience options that you can add to your box. Stuff like keto cookies, pressed juices, and smoothies. So don't let shorter days slow you down. Stay energized with America's number one ready-to-eat meal service. Choose from six menu preferences to help you manage calories, maximize protein intake, avoid meat, or simply eat well-balanced. And because Factor's meals are chef-prepared and dietitian-approved, you know they support your goals and it's cheaper than takeout and dining out. You can find guilt-free comfort foods like homestyle chicken and gravy and loaded mashed potato pork chops. Feel-good options. Feel-good vegan options, in fact. Like sweet potato and chickpea curry. And globally inspired flavors like Peruvian shrimp and red pepper collie grits. Weekly menus offer ways to treat yourself to a restaurant-like meal experience of gourmet plus dishes that feature premium proteins and seasonal sides like broccolini, leeks, and asparagus. So you can stay on your A-game with quality ingredients that you can trust. In fact, it's fresh, never frozen meals. Use your time more efficiently in these darker months and let Factor take shopping, prepping, cooking, and cleaning off your daily list of things to do. I know that this is a very popular option in a dowdy household, right? Yeah. I don't keep a running subscription with Factor, but I do like to... Once every two months or so, I like to pick up a couple weeks of Factor just to kind of recycle how I'm not eating the same thing for lunch every day or just not going and defaulting into just like the same sandwich every day because the Factor meals are so freaking good. I was just thinking while you were reading, I was like, you get to pick out your own meals and I don't think I've ever regretted any choice I've made. And I've had dozens of different meals from Factor.
  • So yeah, like it's time for me to pick out another couple weeks of meals. That shrimp one was sounding good. The vegan curry was sounding amazing. So yeah, like I'm a big fan of Factor and how easy they make it for when I'm just like working and just constantly doing things, even though like I'm at home, you know, like I try to keep like a pretty, not strict isn't the right word, but I keep a schedule, right? I know when things need to get done. I know when I'm going to do those things, which means like I don't give myself like, yeah, I'll just eat lunch whenever. Like I'm going to eat lunch like around a certain time every day and I want it to be quick and easy and good. And that's what Factor gives to me.
  • So head to factomeals.com slash penaddict50 and use the code penaddict50 and you'll get 50% of your first month and 20% of your next month. That is code penaddict50 at factomeals.com slash penaddict50. You'll get 50% of your first month plus 20% of your next month while your subscription is active. Thanks to Factor for the support of this show and Relay. All right. Here's what I wrote for number eight. All right. I love sharing on social media. Controversial? Maybe. But this is a visual hobby and seeing is how I learned the best. It's how the penaddict started too. I wanted to see how pens wrote. And, you know, like social media is like can be an S show for sure.
  • But it all depends on how you use it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. True. I wonder how this list came about.
  • But just the concept of this being a visual hobby, social media helps. Like Instagram, which is obviously visually based, you know, pictures and videos. I don't. I'm less of a publisher of social media than a consumer of social media, right? Like y'all follow me on lots of different things, but I'm not out there like, you know, banging the drum 10 times a day. You're not posting stories. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're not making reels. I'm considering it. Like I know I want to do it. You should. I don't do. Okay. I don't do things to grow my business. I do things because they're fun. I do things because they're fun. But you should do them for both reasons. I know.
  • I know. You should be making more short form video content. I just think it makes sense for you and for your business, whether you like to grow your business or not. Yeah. I'm on the verge. Like I'm thinking about this stuff. So, yeah, it's getting closer. I'm also not a fast mover. Any day now, Brad starts posting to stories. You know what I mean? This is like any day now. I'm not a fast mover. Y'all have heard me for years saying I'm going to do something and I'll do it. It just might take literal years. It's almost like I'll show you. You know, it's like, oh, I'll do it. Oh, I'll do it. You just wait. I'm going to do it any day now. So, anyway, I do like social media. I like answering questions. I like talking to people. I like seeing what other people are up to. So, that helps. Like, I'm not on all the platforms and nor should I be or nor could I be just for my own mental health. But, yeah, like I, everything in moderation, including social media, and I do think it's a valuable tool. So, the amount of fountain pen talk we have on Mastodon is unbelievable. But, you know, like I've also put in the work too, right? Like any social media is only as good as the work you put in to like curate your feeds and your follows and, you know, manage it as well as possible. And I think I've done that really well on Mastodon. And it's just like really, really great fountain pen talk all the time. So, yeah. So, I'm playing around on threads. I play around on Blue Sky. My home, Mastodon is where I'm the most comfortable, but I've been using it the longest too. So, we'll see. I love seeing what everyone's up to. Blue Sky, I just can't. That's a good way. I just can't. And it's nothing on Blue Sky. I can't have a third one. I can't. I agree. You know, it's got to stop, right? Like I left one and then joined one and then joined another. I can't. Yeah. I can't. I agree. That's probably where I'm leaning. But, you know, like I'll bounce around and see.
  • And for me, like my breakdown right now is like Mastodon or the Don. The Don is where my people are. Yeah.
  • Threads is where my algorithm is, right? Like so much of the stuff I see on threads is people I'm not following, but I actually kind of like it for that. Because it understands me because I put a lot of time into Instagram.
  • Like true. They really know me because Instagram is what is my most preferred social network. Just is really a consumer more than anything else. And so they kind of understand me and those two things flow quite nicely together, I think. Yeah. I think threads is the least functional of all of them. It's really difficult to use.
  • Just from the basics, I believe.
  • You know, I don't like not being shown my follower feed when I start that type of app. Like I get Instagram not necessarily. Yeah. I just don't use it for that. Like I understand what you mean if that's what you want. I don't want that from it really. Yeah. Like I get people that I follow, but I am more interested in like, hey, just show me the world. Like what you got for me. And I find interesting stuff in there. Yeah. So I do end up getting more artists in my feed in threads, which is actually why I enjoy it. Yeah. All right. So yeah.

Love for postcards, snail mail, and the tactile experience of writing.[edit]

  • Controversial topic a little bit. But yeah, I think this is just the way this hobby is. It's honestly, it's helpful. Like that's how I get a lot of my news and information. So, all right, number nine, I love postcards and snail mail. No, I still won't write you a letter, but a postcard with some lyrics or lines. Yes. Using a needle tip with bright ink, feeling how terrible the paper is, but making this one pen and ink work, but also not caring because it might get destroyed en route to its destination. Yeah. That's the good stuff. So yeah, I love postcards. Postcards are awesome. I love receiving postcards. I love sending postcards, even though I don't do it at any fair ratio to the amount I receive. But I think postcards are the way if you just want to, you know, branch out and explore and have a little bit of fun and do something silly. Throw your sticker. I should just send someone a postcard with one of my gel ink pen stickers stuck to it and send it to them. Like literally, like do it. Like I don't know why I don't do that because postcards are just easy, easy way to share. Someone gets that in the mail and goes and just laughs and says, Brad's ridiculous and puts a smile on their face for the 10 seconds that they see that and then chuck it up on the shelf or throw it away. And it's just like, yeah, that's fun. I enjoy postcards. Oh, I've never sent you a postcard. I should send you a postcard. I don't think you've sent me a postcard. No. Yeah. I'll do that. I'll do that. Finally, Myke, number 10. I love being able to say all these things out loud.
  • That's a short way of saying I love this podcast. I love the community. I love the people. These are all the things you know that I know you know that I love. But having the opportunity to say these things out loud to like-minded people, I don't take for granted.
  • I'm very privileged to be able to do this. And I just always want to put the people first that are listening and that are on their stationery journey and even on their life journey and helping people out. Y'all help me out more than you know. And I like to return that favor. That's my goal.
  • So, yeah. I like the opportunity that I have to be able to say these things out loud and just have a fun time talking about stationery with you and with our listeners and with the whole Pen Addict community and the whole stationery community as a whole.
  • It's pretty cool what we have. And I sometimes get in my own way and forget that sometimes. You know, which is how this list came to be. You know, I was having a moment. And I was like, you know what? It's okay to have your moments.
  • But, and I'm talking about to myself here, my own pep talk. Everyone has to handle things their own way. But, you know, take your time. Have your moment. But then realize. Like, take a step back. Figure out a way. Like, making a brainstorming list of 10 things I love about stationery. And get out of your own way for a minute. Reboot your head. A lot of the things. Taking this back to the anxiety and depression. A lot of the times. Like, I. One of my ways I have to get out of this is I need a reboot. Right? And this was my reboot list on this day. And thinking about the opportunities that I have to use all this fun stationery. And to talk about it with all these amazing people. Yeah. Pretty lucky. Pretty lucky to be able to do this. And I plan on keeping doing this for a long time. So, there we go. If you would like to share with us something you love about stationery. We would love to hear from that. Hear from you. And hear about that. Go to penaddictfeedback.com. You can send us it in. If you've got any questions. If you've got any follow up for the show. You can always send them in there too. If you want to find Brad on the social media. And don't forget. He might start posting to stories soon. So, watch out. He's penaddict. P-N-A-D-D-I-C-T. I am Ike. I-M-Y-K-E. You can find Brad over at penaddict.com. And spokedesign.com. You can hear me at relay.fm. Which is where you'll find this show. As well as at cortexbrand.com. Thank you to Factor and Ooni Pizza Ovens. For their support of this show. And thank you for listening. Genuinely. We appreciate it. Because there is no show without you. It's just me and Brad having a conversation. Which is also lovely. But it's not this. And we like to share this stuff with you. So, we'll be back next week. Tune in and say goodbye Brad. Goodbye Brad.
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