Editing The Pen Addict 191/transcript (section)

== Gel Inks ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' Well, those, those, those, those inks, they, their gel inks are just so good in that.

'''Azizah Asgarali:''' Yeah. And the colors are nice.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' The colors are great.

'''Azizah Asgarali:''' They also smell really good.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah.

'''Azizah Asgarali:''' That's probably weird.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' No, we're going to talk about your weirdness later.

'''Azizah Asgarali:''' Oh, awesome. I look forward to this. And, uh, and for fountain pens, I usually carry, um, usually between four and six. Mm-hmm. Um, I, uh, I have, this is embarrassing. They're all black when I go out because, because of the nibs, not so much because of the colors. Um, I have two that are heavy but thin. So those are my Namiki Yukaris and they have just, um, medium nibs. So pretty much something you can use anywhere all the time. Not really long drawing times, but pleasant nibs. And, uh, then I carry, um, a Mont Blanc 146 with a oblique double broad. So that's kind of like one of the fun nibs.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah.

'''Azizah Asgarali:''' And, uh, and then a fine nib on also a Mont Blanc. Not, not because I'm a Mont Blanc lover or anything, just because the nib works for me.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah.

'''Azizah Asgarali:''' And, um, I now carry my, um, Sailor King of Pen, which has one of those King Eagle nibs. Yeah. And, and that's, that one's just for playing with basically because clearly I, I cannot write characters or anything. So that one is just kind of like, oh, I think I can pretend I can draw. And so I play around with it. And within like half a page, the entire converter is drained. So those are, those are the ones I typically carry around regularly. And then the last slot I leave open. So if I have a pen to review, I carry that one around with me and, um, that one gets the major testing.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. Yeah. What kind of, what kind of paper are you taking to, to leave the house with recently?

'''Azizah Asgarali:''' I've been using that, um, paper cuts note with the Tomori river. And, and I also take, uh, a field notes everywhere because I use my ballpoints, my gel pens, right. And sometimes fountain pens, because sometimes they work in the paper. Like, I don't know, sometimes they feather, but some of them seem to be less feathery than others. Yep. I don't know, but, um, I, I take an excess of pens, paper, uh, pencil cases. I bring paper clips with me and like a Midori traveler's notebook, which I do not need to carry all the stuff with me, but I do anyway.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I know that that's all of our problems, right? I don't need to carry all this. I don't need to own all this, but that's kind of what we do. It's kind of our problem, right?

'''Azizah Asgarali:''' Exactly. And I stand there with a really heavy bag before I'm leaving. And I like, I think to myself, I know full well, I'm not going to use any of this stuff because I don't have time on this particular mission, but I take it all with me because I'm not.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So, yeah. And I actually, I want to elaborate on that, on the notebook usage situation, kind of related to Myke's, um, Myke's story last week. I want to touch on that just a little bit, but before we do, I want to talk about our first sponsor and that's our good friends at Squarespace. Start building your website today at Squarespace. You enter the offer code Inc for at checkout to get 10% off setting up your Squarespace blog. They do an awesome job. They give you a place online, um, to write your blog, uh, put up a retail shop, do put all the power in your hands, take away the pain points. There's no, nothing you have to worry about, about hosting, scaling your website, you know, prepping for a huge traffic spikes. Um, you know, like when Aziza comes on your podcast and your traffic goes through the roof, um, you know, we're not going to crash and burn, you know, when you're hosted by Squarespace. If you need any help, they're there to help you all the time. They have, uh, professionally designed, you know, templates. There's no coding required. You can get in at a beginner skill level to use this. Um, if, if I can do it, uh, y'all can do it, but you know, they're just a really, really awesome, uh, hosting partner and they have 24 seven support. You can get it around the world, New York, Dublin, Portland. They're always there. They have commerce platform, which you can, anyone can add a store to their Squarespace site, which I'm about to do for pen addict. Um, they have a cover page, um, template where if you just want a place where people can go find you online and find out how to connect with you, you can put up these, um, little great cover pages and everything's up and available and fast. And if you want to take it even further, they have a dev platform that's out now. Um, that's in beta for everyone to take advantage of adding even more functionality to the platform to take your Squarespace site further than even ever before. If you sign up for a year, you also get a free domain name, allowing you to choose exactly what you want your site to be called. Any people email me all the time, Aziza, and they probably do you too. Um, you know, how do I get started in pen blogging? Well, there's all kinds of things you can and you should do just, you know, right and right and right. But I always tell everyone, get your own domain name. You know, that's a, that's a big thing. And it's so cheap and you always have that name there and, um, it's, it's flexible as you need it to be. So start your trial today with no credit card required and start building your website. When you sign up and you like Squarespace after that trial, make sure you use the offer code and get 10% off your first purchase. And that supports the pen addict. Um, thanks Squarespace for their support of the show and all of relay FM Squarespace. You should. So that's their new tagline. Um, they're getting ready to come out with a big Superbowl ad this weekend, which I haven't seen yet, but I think it's kind of, uh, hitting across the internet. So I'll have to check that out and y'all should check that out too. So Myke, last week we wrapped up the show with a dilemma and we'll cover this more when Myke gets back for sure, because he is running into being overwhelmed. Especially when it comes to paper and actually using the things. Do you have specific one? Do you have this problem where you have so much unused stuff? It's kind of overwhelming. And two, how do you kind of work through that flow of kind of making sure you're actually using the products you're buying? Yeah.

'''Azizah Asgarali:''' Yeah. It's, um, it is tough. And I think, I think when we all start exploring the stationary world, we kind of go a little nuts and, uh, in a good way. But you know, this, um, it's this tendency to think that we have to get everything. And of course I suffer from this still, but you know, and multiples of everything. And then, you know, a year later you're sitting there like in a room full of 10,000 notebooks and you're like, what am I going to do with all these? And I, I still have that, but what I've really had to do is, is kind of stop myself and think, okay, am I just, do I want this notebook just because it's pretty or because I actually need it? And if I think I need it, what am I going to use it for? So it's been a very conscious choice to rein in my purchases on notebooks, but also disposable pens, a gel pen, ballpoint. Otherwise it all just, it just builds up.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Right. Right. And, you know, I feel weird talking about this, you know, a couple, you know, sentences after I said, oh, I didn't buy enough Tomoe River notebooks, but it's, it's, it's the, there's still a way to, you know, have all the cool things you like, but make sure you use them. And we had a couple of blog posts that we'll link into the show notes, um, from, uh, uh, Junie at Althaven and from Mr. Edgerton that, that actually wrote directly to Myke on their blogs. And I came up with one thing that I'm going to tell Myke next week. And it's something that I might try to do myself. If Myke's worried about not using, you know, his paper and pens, he's on Twitter all day. And I know people have done this with text messages, messages where they're, they'll actually handwrite the text message and photograph it and send it. He needs to do one tweet a day in a pen and paper that he hasn't used in a long time. Just one tweet a day. You know, he's on Twitter all the time. Um, write that tweet in the notebook with a cool pen, take a picture of it and let that be your tweet. Do that once a day and you will find yourself wanting to use your pens and paper even more. You know, maybe you start doing it more. Maybe you use it for other things. Maybe now all of a sudden your notes are getting captured in that notebook that you just wrote that tweet down. It's kind of like a, we all go through these ups and downs. Sometimes I look at like my stationary closet and I'm like, what have you done?

'''Azizah Asgarali:''' What, what, what is going on?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Ink and paper, especially like I'm okay on pens. Like I have more than enough pens to, you know, keep, you know, an entire city going for a lifetime. I don't get overwhelmed with my pens. I get overwhelmed with paper and ink. Um, so finding a way to use those things in different ways than use them, um, during the day. Um, I think, uh, I think it's something, uh, you know, maybe you can try and we'll explore that more for sure.

'''Azizah Asgarali:''' You know what I, what I found the best way for me to go through paper and inks and use all my pens that have special nibs is to practice handwriting and calligraphy. Yeah. Because that burns through ink, especially if you're bad at it. Like when I first started, I was just atrocious. So I just burned through paper and ink like crazy.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' That's awesome. I think that's probably at the top of the list of things I say I'm going to do and never do is, is to just sit down and practice my handwriting. Yeah. Right.

'''Azizah Asgarali:''' It's tough. It's tough. But that could be, you could just force yourself to participate in all sorts of crazy challenges. Like this year, every month I'm going to use up a notebook on just handwriting practice or calligraphy practice. Yeah. And if you don't, then you have to, you know, come up with some kind of thing to punish yourself. I have to give away my pen, my favorite pen to someone.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Right. Yeah.

'''Azizah Asgarali:''' Then you'll definitely do it.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. I've seen people do that. You know, they'll commit and they publicly track it. And if and when they fail and hopefully they don't, there is a penalty to that. And that means they give away, you know, whatever, whatever it is they're working on. You know, they're a photographer. Give away their camera. Ooh, that would be rough.

'''Azizah Asgarali:''' Give it to you. You'll help them.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Are you saying my photography is bad, Aziza?

'''Azizah Asgarali:''' No, definitely not. I'm just kidding. No, but I mean, who wouldn't want that?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' No, no. Right. I'll take it. Yeah. Fail, fail, fail.

'''Azizah Asgarali:''' Yeah, exactly.

'''Azizah Asgarali:''' Yeah. All right. I go to paper like that really fast. Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' That's a great idea. I that's I mean, seriously, that's like the thing that's always in my head. Like sit down and practice your handwriting and I never do it. And there's nothing that I tell myself more than that and and continue to fail to do it. So maybe maybe I'm the one that needs to put myself to the task. And and commit to that type of usage. That's that's something to think about for me. I'm going to write that down. I like that. I like that. And you can publicly commit to it. And there's a penalty if you fail. I like it.

'''Azizah Asgarali:''' It's fun. It's fun to do it that way.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' All right. So let's talk about you. That's that's why I have you here. You know, you feel you fell in into the role of of of co-host today accidentally. But we really wanted to have you on to talk about you.

'''Azizah Asgarali:''' I could do both.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Well, I want to do both because this is the first time we've had you on and it's been way overdue. And we've talked about it last year. And, you know, just my schedules, whatever podcasting schedules, it just gets pushed and pushed and pushed. And finally, finally got you on here. And I want to talk about Gourmet Pens and Aziza and how this whole blogging thing started. And and, you know, kind of how you got the bug to write and put it online and talk about all these pens and paper and inks and stuff. So how did Gourmet Pens begin?

'''Azizah Asgarali:''' I am. Well, I've always been interested in stationery when I was younger. I would go to Walmart and browse stationery aisle because that was what was exciting for me. And we've all been there and we still do that sometimes. And I remember thinking when I started when I was getting older, I was like, you know, I mean, these pens are fun. And I would always see like my friends just writing with like the most generic pen. They're like, oh, yeah, I got this at a hotel or something, you know, pens that they have just nicked from somewhere. And I was like, no, no, I want to use gourmet pens, like classy pens. And so I mean, that's where the name came from, was that gourmet pens, not just like a generic ballpoint that you can just, you know, that people just throw out because it's not interesting or something. It's the it's the interesting pens, the exciting pens, the ones that we seek. Generally, I started out with gel pens and nice looking ballpoints like the unique ones. And and of course, once you start doing that, it just morphs into fountain pens no matter what you do, because they are the most gourmet of all of them.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Right. I tried to hold off on that, but I failed to.

'''Azizah Asgarali:''' No, and it's good that you failed, of course. This is the one thing you want to fail at.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Absolutely.

'''Azizah Asgarali:''' I think. So it's been a long time coming. And then at some point I thought, I'm going to start a blog. And and I don't know. I don't know why I did this, because I think I think I started in 2010, July 2010 or so. And when I started, I mean, there were not that many pen blogs around. Right. And so I don't know what I was really thinking. Except for, OK, this seems like fun. And I didn't really know how to do it. But I mean, you just kind of dive in and adjust as you continue and get feedback and find out what you like to do. And and it's been a very interesting, outstanding, unique journey in a good way, of course.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. Yeah. And that's for sure. I mean. I I remember reading you, I think, right. Right. When you came out and I was like, wow, she is really like. Into this stuff. Like you could tell, like, yeah, there is no doubt that you are in deep, like immediately from right right when you started writing. And, you know, how do you how do you think you've changed like over the years? Because like you said, this has been we're going on six years now almost. And you're one of the most popular bloggers in the community. And how do you do? How do you think it's kind of changed from like when you started doing it to now? How do you think your styles change? How do you think your likes and tastes have changed, you know, over these several years?

'''Azizah Asgarali:''' In a way, it's kind of scary to analyze that because I used to think to myself, wow, five dollar gel pen. That's that's crazy. You know, and then, of course, you start exploring fountain pens. And I remember buying my first Lamy All Star and I was like, oh, my God, $40. What am I doing? I was like, I would never spend $100 on a fountain pen. That is crazy. And of course. There are many people who do not wish to do that and there's nothing wrong with that. It's just that I'm not. So that it's been it's I found it's been a very slippery slope, but in a in a fun way. And for me, writing and reading and although I cannot draw, I like and I can draw. That is for me. This is my my really only hobby, my only passion that I really spend a lot on. So I try to justify it in that way. I find that as time goes on, I have spent a scary amount on stationery and I try not to quantify it ever.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, we're going to talk about some specifics here at the end that I've got. I'm going to drop on you.

'''Azizah Asgarali:''' Oh, it's going to be disturbing. I'm sure. Very exciting. Disturbing. I find that I hoard less, which is great. I remember when I first started, I would just kind of buy any pen that I saw that I had not used before or had not seen before because it was just something different. But as my as I learned what I liked and I learned what kind of inks I like to use. And this is going to sound really weird, but like what kind of ballpoint ink smells I like. I kind of I narrowed my focus and I've done the same with fountain pens. Although, unfortunately, my focus, which I suspect is what we are going to discuss at some point, is shiny and expensive. But I I have a hard time justifying it. But I'm like, you know, what can you do?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Right. Right. I mean, I think we've kind of all gone through a little bit of that transition where you kind of start small. You're trying everything under the sun. Like if it's new, it's coming to the house. Yeah. And then all of a sudden that stops and you kind of narrow the focus a little bit more, except there's like these different price brackets that start happening.

'''Azizah Asgarali:''' Yeah. And you're like, what? Like what? Yeah.