Editing The Pen Addict 381/transcript (section)

== Ink Haunting Conclusion ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah, but spills, spills always, spills are good winners, spills are winners when it comes to horror stories. But it is the way in which Evan has been trying to keep this secret, which is weird that you would then write into it, I mean, that could be a problem. But then, it's the way in which this continues to reveal itself, that is hilarious, but then the way it's written, I mean, this is a story that I'm gonna want to remember, so I would call it Hall of Fame worthy. I feel haunted

'''Brad Dowdy:''' by this ink, right? Like, I feel like if I went, I feel like if I went to Evan's house, I would be haunted by this ink in the kitchen, like I would be concerned for my well-being, and I think you've talked me into it. Where is it? Hall of Fame story. Where is it? Welcome to the Hall of Fame, Evan. Bravo. Oh my God. This is problematic.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Oh gosh. I don't know what to say. This is, it's kind of creeping me out the way Evan wrote this, because I can, you can picture this, right? Like, that's what makes horror stories so good, is because you can put yourself in these situations, right? Like me sticking my hand down a drain and slicing it open. You can put yourself in these situations. And I was like, what if this ink kept showing up, like, on my kid who's crawling through the kitchen, and I've looked everywhere, and I can't find this ink anymore, and then next week, there's another dot on my daughter's shirt. I think I would be completely haunted by the whole thing. So yeah, you've talked me into it. I was not sure if this was Hall of Fame worthy, but I think we're there. This is kind of, yeah. Well done, Evan. Well done.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Our next question comes from I need a cigarette after that, and I'll even smoke. A Lacco. I've been telling myself for a while that I should send you this story. Years ago, when I had mono, it was working, I'd keep motivated at the office by using pens and inks that I love. By then, I figured the best way to use the Organic Studios nitrogen ink was to keep it permanently, in a permanently primed TWSBI. It's a lovely blue and the sheen kept me happy, so it was part of my regular carry at work. So, one afternoon after a heavy lunch, and mind you, with mono, it didn't take much for me to literally fall asleep during the day, so with a heavy lunch, I was as sleepy as ever. Suddenly, my boss reminds me that I need to join a conference call. All meeting rooms were taken, so we borrowed a colleague's pristine white desk. Oh, you did, did you?

'''Myke Hurley:''' Oh, you know what? I've read the wrong story, haven't I?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' You're good. I mean, we'll just continue. That'll be, it's actually, you actually did us a favor, because this is half story, half ass TPA, so it's a good one to end on, the one that you skipped.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Okay, but I should say that this was by Anna C, not Alaco. Yes. Alaco's story is still to come, so that was a preview. This is from Anna C. So, Anna C borrowed a colleague's pristine white desk.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' With Organic Studio Nitrogen previously mentioned in the story, so just to catch everybody up.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. The meeting starts, I'm taking notes, people ask questions, we reply, all is well until someone goes on about something we're not concerned by and I decide to take that minute to prime my converter and I fall asleep doing so.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Just a few seconds later, the ink poured over my hand and wrist and it wakes me up. The whole barrel of ink is out of my pen and all over the desk. My hands everywhere. My boss, who luckily is pretty cool, is just staring at me, caught in the headlights, wondering what in the world has happened. The people on the call are asking us questions and we're well inked. So I jump out of my seat, run to the bathroom, wash my hands, grab all the tissue I can and come back to clean the ink off with paper and the water from my cup. My hands were blue, completely blue. I had no clue what happened in the meeting but we somehow managed to clean the desk. For a few days, I passed by, checked that the colleague still wasn't back and take out little flecks of sheen and blue here and there. I'm not 100% sure that it all came out but at least the owner of the desk never mentioned it nor did my boss ever bring it up again. I wish I could say this was my only accident at work or that I learn my lesson but at least when I do prime my pen in a meeting these days, I at least make sure I'm wide awake. All the best to Myke and yourself from Anna Encantadora.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' It's a very, very good story. Very good. You've been there, right? Yes. You've been there. I've been there. I've shot ink across a table during a conference call. Not at this level but expelled ink halfway across a round conference table where people are on both sides and you just kind of look around. Did anyone see that? I'm not sure anyone see that. Anna's not getting away from anyone seeing this. I was panicking for her because I've been there in this situation. It's awful and I love the fact that one common thread in these horror stories is we're all exposing our passions to people who don't know anything about what we're doing and why this is happening. Can you see Anna sitting there with ink dripping down her hand and her colleague sitting next to her who's using a bit going, oh my god, what is happening to this person that is sitting next to me right now? I don't understand what's happening and we're all doing the same things like that Anna's doing in this story and I just love that we all can share these stories together. It's awesome. Not a Hall of Fame but quite amazing. I think.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah, I feel like again, like with many Hall of Fames, there was a way this could have been it, you know, like if there was consistent like bad damage to the desk but you're able

'''Brad Dowdy:''' to take care of the situation. If the office had to buy the colleague a new desk, replace it somehow, oh man, that would be a racket. Oh gosh, yeah, but like I've been there, like I can see, I can put myself in this situation. We've both been in like corporate conference rooms and it's just like it can happen. Totally can happen. All right, last horror story that Myke tried to read and it's a good transition because we'll probably end this episode with a little Ask TPA and this is a little combo meal of horror stories Ask TPA. So, via Alaco. I can't tell if this is a horror story or an Ask TPA question but I really, really hope you can help. The pen in question is a Pilot Lady White which you may not have heard of. To put it shortly, it's based off the Pilot Deluxe Arushi line of pens where a thin layer of Arushi is painted on a brass barrel. My pen is painted with a light beige layer of Arushi with Sakura imprints on it. That fatal day, I thought it'd be a good idea to clean the cap of the pen. I left the cap submerged in water overnight and saw with satisfaction the water turning blue. The next day when I decided that it had soaked long enough, I found a brown color trailing away from the cap. I picked up the cap and it still pains me to write of it. Some of the brown, rusty water had already stained the cap.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' On closer examination, it seems that some of the gold plating on the underside of the cap had peeled away and my chosen method of cleaning had induced the rascals to attack my lovely pen. I've tried sunblock, potatoes, and other seemingly friendly things to remove the stain with no success. I'm reluctant to use chemicals for fear that they won't get along with the Arushi. This being my fourth day of grieving, I've nearly given up. Do you know how or is it even possible to remove rust stains from Arushi? I've attached a picture of the patient. View it at your own risk. Many thanks for all the podcasts. I'm still going through old episodes. I'm in 2018 now. So, we'll have a picture of this pen, of this image in the show notes because I want people to look at this. I have never, ever seen anything like this. This is straight up horror story. Like, I would be horrified if I did this and this happened to my pen. So, what this is, Alaco is right. I've never heard of this pen, but I kind of see what it is in the picture. And it's essentially a metal barrel pen with artwork on the outside, lacquered, and securas. The question I have is how that's the spot that the rust came through. I would expect it up more towards the clip, right, where there might be some type of puncture inside, right, you know, where the clip would attach inside the barrel and it's just got to have some type of hole there. Right there, that's an odd spot for sure.

'''Myke Hurley:''' what if it's received some stress from the clip hitting against it? Right. There might be a tiny stress fracture.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Right. That's what I'm thinking more that it came from the outside as opposed to the inside. Mm-hmm. Plus, those clips generally tend to be folded, not solid, right? Do you know what I mean? So, like, water could get behind that clip and the fold of the metal and rust within there.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Ooh, not a Hall of Fame, but a definite horror story. Like, I would never have expected this to happen with this type of pin. Mm-hmm. Um, I have no earthly idea how to clean it. I, I wager to say that you can't because it looks almost internal to the layering, right? It looks like it's within layers of the design on the exterior of the pen. so I, I, I like the idea of sunblock and potatoes. Those would not have been my first choices to, to clean the stain, but I guess there's maybe some, uh, some internet logic that leads you to sunblock and potatoes as the, uh, the rust cleaning choices. But, um, yeah, I'm, I'm at a loss. It's definitely horrific. Not a Hall of Famer, but I don't know how to fix this. Um, and we have probably like a year for Alaco to hear this. So, if they're only in 2018 right now, it might be a while before they get to the, uh, the podcast. But I think the consensus is this came from the outside, not the inside. And it's more than likely that that clip is a folded metal, which would then leave me to believe that water could live in there and maybe cause a problem. I don't know. I, I'm really down on the possibilities of ever being able to clean that. That's bad news. That's bad news. That's a, that's like a legit horror story. Like, I've ruined my really good pen, or not I have, but my really good pen has gotten, become ruined because I was trying to do a good thing, right? So, that's, uh, that's scary. So, if anyone has any great, uh, cleaning ideas, I will email them to Alaco because they will not probably hear this podcast if they're just, uh, if they're not listening to current episodes and back catalog at the same time. So, I don't have any recommendations right off the top of my head. So, that's our horror stories, Myke. We put one in. We put one in. They all moved me in various ways. Like, I can see myself in so many of these situations, and I, knock on wood, that, man, like, some of this stuff, it's, it's gonna happen. One of these days, you and I are gonna have a submission in this. It's almost an inevitability with the things that we deal with, which is why we have so many, uh, so many people sending this in. It's almost inevitable that you're going to have this story if you're a fountain pen user of any time, any type. Um, it's just, I love it. I, I'm, like, super anxious now. We've wrote all these stories, like, I'm tapping my toes, I'm like, all right, am I gonna knock something over while I'm in here? What is the horror story that's gonna happen to me? So, uh, I don't wish that on anyone, any of these stories, but, uh, thank you all for sharing them with us.