Editing The Pen Addict 641/transcript (section)

== Luddite Japan mechanical pencils and barrels ==

* All right. I'm also interested in, I got this link in the email. I've been following Luddite Japan for a while. They're a stationery maker in Japan. They're obviously Luddites, I guess, given the name. But they have been making some mechanical pencils with different types of inlay barrels. Or not inlay barrels. Different types of barrels, I should say. Mostly wooden barrels. You know I like my mechanical pencils. And I like my customized mechanical pencils. And people who do cool things with mechanical pencils. Hashtag spoke design. And Luddite, I've been following for a while. Because they will do these different wood barrel pencils. And I've seen some people making acrylic barrel mechanical pencils. Sleeves. Basically sleeves for the mechanical pencils that we like. Like the Pentel Sharpie 205. I got mine from, you know, Little Penco. Really, really like that one. And what Luddite has done is take them to some of their style that they use for their wood pencils. And they've done some really interesting color dyed woods. It's really hard to explain.
* But if you're a mechanical pencil person. And I guess we're getting to gift guide time of the year. I don't know how easy these are to access. I've seen them, the brand Luddite, at different retailers. So you can shop around. But most of it, I think, is direct. And I do think they ship to the U.S. And we have a link in the show notes to this Tech Draw 2 wood model. And they're just spectacular looking pencils. If you're into this type of thing. Like some of these people, some people may not be into this at all. But I like the creativity around mechanical pencils. Especially from like your non-big brands. Like Pentel. Like they're going to make cool stuff in all kinds of different product lines. But having a smaller maker focus on mechanical pencils like Luddite does. Is really tempting and interesting to me. So I'm going to look at, you know. I'm not jumping through, you know, the screen right now to go buy one. But like the next time I have the opportunity to see them in person. Like I saw them at Stationery Fest, right? So one of the shops there was carrying them. And I really, really kind of poured over them. And almost came away with one. But at some point I had to stop spending at Stationery Fest. So that one got, you know, left on the cutting room floor. But in general, that's a brand I'm watching. That's a brand I'm starting to get other people talking about. And sending me things about. So that's something maybe in 2025 I'll add to my shopping list. And see what I think. Get on there. So like this one I was looking at. They're not inexpensive, right? So like this was like an $85, you know, given current exchange rates for this one that I put the Instagram post on. The ones I was looking at at Stationery Fest. I can't remember the exact details of the barrel. But they were a very limited edition. And they were more like $120, $130. Which I don't mind spending that on a mechanical pencil. Which seems, you know, seems like crazy talk. But, you know, look at all the other things we buy. I just want it to be like really, really good. And really perfect for me. And budgeted accordingly. That would be one of those extra things that I didn't plan on. That would blow the budget. So, yeah. One to keep an eye on. And I keep seeing them pop up in a lot of places. So we'll keep that going. Speaking of wild and wonderful looking pens. I am auctioning, raffling, I guess, off the River City Pen Co. Fine View and Rainbow Shuffle that River City Pen Co. Sent me a couple weeks ago to review. So this is the Rainbow Pen that, I guess, two weeks ago I reviewed it. And in talking with Rich Paul, who owns River City Pen Co. He had mentioned before he'd even sent the pen to me. He's like, hey, I'd love if you, you know, review this pen. It's a new slimmer model, which everyone knows I like the slimmer model types of pens. So give me your thoughts on that. By the way, if you want, I think, you know, this might be a good one where we could raise money for the Trevor Project. And so I said, obviously, yes to the review. And obviously, yes to raising money for the Trevor Project. And that is finally live. I created a little charity page. We're doing this just in a straight raffle type of donation. I didn't know until someone told me. This is not a Squarespace ad. But they have a donate button to where people can just click and donate. Now that goes directly to me, right? Like I'm collecting those funds. And then people have to trust me to allocate 100% of those funds correctly, which I believe that they do. But that was a neat little feature that I added onto this page. So the Rainbow Shuffle is available for raffle to help us raise money for the Trevor Project, which is, you know, a LGBTQ plus support line. And they do a lot of phone support, a lot of in-person support for like a crisis hotline. So it's a great, great, great way to support that community, support this Pen community as a whole. And I appreciate Rich for doing this. And this will run for another, I guess it ends Friday at midnight. And we've raised several hundred dollars so far. So I appreciate everyone taking a look at this. And it's something I very much believe in and supporting the cause. And Rich does too. So I appreciate him allowing me to do this. Very cool. Yeah. All right. Let's hit a, we got a couple of kind of crossover topics today that I wanted to touch on. And the first one I wrote up a little bit for the members newsletter, which I write at PenInnic.com called Refill. About how I'm using Apple's journaling app for a little experiment that I'm running. And this is not an app dependent process that I'm doing. It just happens to be, this is the app that I've found that's kind of working for what I need to do. And what I need to do, Myke, is the thing that I've talked about for nearly the entirety of this podcast. Is have a direct line from my brain to the page, right? So how do we solve that as efficiently as possible? And I've always wanted to solve that in an analog fashion. But I know that having digital access is many times quicker for me, given the prevalence of my phone with me at all times, right? So I've gone through different processes around my daily life of always having a notebook and a pen physically on my person, right? To do this type of capturing. And what I'm trying to capture are the fleeting thoughts, right? Just like the one-off thoughts that I might have. Basically, you know, your shower thoughts, you know, or I'm cooking dinner. And for some reason, you know, I'm by myself and I'm spacing out on something that I want to think about. Or I hear something interesting in the music that I've chosen to play or the podcast. And, you know, a little quote, a little detail, a little, you know, little memory that I want to put down. Not really, I'm not looking for a journal, right? This is not any type of journal. I'm not sitting down and it's like, tell me about your day. Like, I'm not doing that. But I want to capture the little things that I've found interesting throughout the day.
* So my notebook attempts have generally failed. Because as I wrote in the newsletter, as great of an idea as that is, it's not always functional. Because I won't always keep it in my pocket. I might set it on a table, right? If I'm carrying around, like, say, a field note and a pen. Like, something as small as possible. I will still, if I'm sitting down, I might set that in a chair or a table. And then I'll get up and go do another thing. And then I'll have a thought. And I'll go, oh, yeah, my notebook's over there. I'll remember to do that in a minute. I'll go, next time I grab the notebook, I'll put it in there. Because I didn't pick it up with me. You know, I didn't have it in my hand. And eventually, the notebook just got further and further and further away. And I was like, yeah, well, we're not going to capture that. But honestly, and as sad as it is to admit, my phone is with me way more than a notebook is. Just around the house. I think it's a different concept if I left the house on a daily basis. You know, I think I would control the notebook a much, much, it would be a much better option for me outside of the house. But in the house, my phone's with me at all times. So I've also tried different capturing on my phone. To where I would take these notes, say, using an app called Drafts on the phone. But like any just notepad app would work. Where you just keep like a stream of consciousness type of note taking. That's all I'm looking for. It's the field notes tagline.