Editing The Pen Addict 401/transcript (section)

== Transitioning Topics ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' So do we want to move on to talking? Is there anything else you want to touch on with this?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I, you know, ask a lot of questions. You know, that's how we get to know you. That's how I'm best able to help you. You know, whether you're emailing me, hello at pen addict dot com, getting me at me on Twitter. Do not Instagram message me. I will never see that message. Email or Twitter are the best ways to just find out and ask me anything. I genuinely am wide open to the most, you know, basic or the most complex questions. And if I don't know the answer, I will do my best to help you find it.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Do you want to talk about pen shows?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I do. This question comes up a lot.

'''Myke Hurley:''' So obviously this is something that we care about a lot, right? We both try and attend multiple pen shows every year. And we do get the question very frequently of, you know, I'm starting out with going to a pen show for the first time. What should I do? We'll give a little refresher here. But I do recommend that people go back and listen to the episode that we did with my wife, Adina, before she came to her first pen show, like serious pen show, which was the San Francisco pen show. So that's episode 372. And then maybe follow up with her return episode after the pen show. You know, I think it's a kind of like a fun before and after for somebody who was going to their first major pen show. So that's a good, I think that's a good place to go listen to it. But just for psych of posterity, what would you recommend people bring to a pen show? It's not about just what you leave with.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. Pen show is a lot about prep because...

'''Myke Hurley:''' Especially for traveling for one.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yes. Yeah. It's like a little mini trade show. Like if you've never been to one, it will probably be smaller than what you're thinking about. Oh my gosh, I'm going to this pen show. It's going to be this big, huge, massive thing. It's generally not. But what it is, is once you even get into this space, it's overwhelming because a single table can have hundreds of individual things to look at. Right? So you get, while you might not be like physically overwhelmed with the size of the space, you might be mentally overwhelmed with the quantity of items that are physically present in this small space. So always advise people to bring some type of small bag, definitely some type of beverage and some type of snack. Like before you even consider what station area or anything you're going to bring. Because you're going to be walking around a lot. You're going to be, you know, around a lot of people. You're going to be moving. It could be hot in the room. You might need to take a break. We'll talk about all that stuff later. But, you know, bring a small bag. You know, a lot of people bring backpacks, tote bags, sling bags, messenger bags, those type of things. You don't want it to be too big and bulky because not every hotel ballroom is laid out the best. So you can be just bumping and knocking into people all the time. Some have wider house, some don't. But you definitely want to have your hands free to look down at the various tables and, you know, talk with the vendors and be able to pick up a few items that you've maybe seen online and want to test out in person. And, yeah. So that's the very basics that I'd bring. A small bag to carry some things in.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Empty pen storage.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. On top of that, yes, I'd bring pen storage, your favorite notebook to write in. And Sarah, who writes Notebook Joy, just reminded me, I think, of something that Anna said years ago. Bring a glass nib dip pen or a dip pen of some kind that's easily cleanable because you'll end up meeting pen friends and you can, like, swab their inks in your notebook. I was like, that was a smart idea. I remember Anna saying that years ago and I totally forgot about that until I just read it this time. But if you don't have that, that's fine.

'''Myke Hurley:''' That's the one we were looking at on that JetPens video a few weeks ago, right?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Exactly. Exactly. Just something that's easily cleanable and it's not going to contaminate other inks and things. Something you can do quickly and efficiently just to get an idea of the color. And then bring some of your own pens that you want to talk about and share with others. That's kind of, like, the main thing that I bring these days is I'll bring, like, a pen roll of just a handful of pens that I've always talked about on the show or that are my current favorites. And that I want people to be able to use. So, yeah, you know, definitely watch what you pack. You don't want to, you're going to probably leave with more than you came with. So, be wary of bringing too much. Mm-hmm. So, you don't want to also overload your bag and be uncomfortable all day carrying it around. Mm-hmm. So, when you get to the pen show, our advice has always been, especially if it's your first show, this is more important than if you're an experienced show goer, is to take it all in first. Yes. Before you start reaching for the wallet. Make a loop around the show. Yep. Kind of see. You don't have to even stop everywhere. You don't have to stop and individually look. I'm not saying stop at each table, look, talk, take it all in. I'm like, get a feel of where things are at, who's selling what, what ideas you want to come back to. And then you can kind of decide, okay, I've seen it all in the general sense. Where do I want to go see things more specifically? And then that's where you go and you really kind of find a space in front of a table. Start talking to the vendors, which they're more than glad to talk to you. Please ask them questions. They would be glad to help you.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' You know, it's always one of the big questions is, can I touch the pen on the table? And the answer is always ask. All you have to do is say, may I pick this pen up? And then if you're not sure if it's a pull cap or twist cap, you can just say, is this pull or twist? Just say, is this pull or twist? And they'll say. And then if it has a filling system, like a piston filler, don't shoot ink across the table like Myke does.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Like I did. Not does. Did. I did it one time. And the guy was explaining to me how to fill the ink. And I thought he wanted me to do it. But he was just telling me. But I thought that he was saying like, oh, just to give you kind of a run through, just twist it. And I did. And then the ink went everywhere. But I did buy the pen. So I feel like, you know, it wasn't the worst. I think that was my pen. That was the golden web that I bought you. Yep.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yep. So let's talk about that. Vintage pens. Oh, boy. People always want to know about buying vintage pens. That was one of the most popular questions I got at the Baltimore Pen Show. Where can I buy X vintage pen? And so it's a little, I don't know if it's unfair, but I guess it's totally fair. I tell people my favorite vintage pen vendors that I've had great experiences with. Yeah. Right? I'm not going to send you all around the room looking for all these things. I know this vendor is here. And I know that vendor is here. And I know that they have good quality, good support. They're friendly and helpful. So I will send people directly to buying vintage pens. But the biggest thing with vintage pens is you want to know if the pen has been restored or not. Right? So that's the hardest thing to determine, especially if you're new. Is this pen going to write when I leave the show, ink it up for the first time? Is it good to go? So that's a conversation you need to have with any vintage pen dealer. Um, so yeah, I, um, also the other thing that I noticed just at Baltimore was how many people had a physical list of some time to either see or buy, you know, a lot of the lists I saw were, I want to look at this thing, right? Like I'm not shopping for this. I want to look at this thing. I want to look at this thing. And that way later on, I can make decisions because now I've seen these things that I've only read about online or did my own research on, or I've seen them at a different show and want to see what that thing looks like here. Um, so yeah, lists are very valuable, um, in that, in, in pen shows, um, budgets go along with that list, right? We're going to talk more about budgets later in the show, just in, in general, but, um, definitely, you know, have a budget and stick to it if at all possible. And the last thing I think for just the basics, and I, we really cover this more in the episodes, Myke will link in the show notes, take advantage of any additional events that shows have outside of the show floor. It's not, every show is not created equally outside the walls of the short, mostly generally inside the show. They're all pretty equal, right? You know, the vendors will vary, but you're going to have the same opportunity to see the same types of things. And that's why you're there is to check those things out. But a lot of shows put a lot of work into extra, either after hours events during show hours, classes, always take advantage of those if you can. Yeah. Classes are fantastic. You know, especially if you have more than a couple hours to spend at a show, it does, it does take time. Like you need, if you're planning on taking classes and seeing the show, you need like a full day, right? But that's kind of the benefit of this. You know, you take that full day, make a plan, say, I'm going to go to the show for these hours. I'm going to take this class for these hours. And then, you know, I'm going to hit the road. So they always do a lot of shows put a lot of effort into that and they've proven to be very successful. And a lot of them do some unique things. So it's always worth checking what the event schedule looks like outside of the show floor.

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'''Brad Dowdy:''' So this next little section, Myke, I took from... We asked for feedback before we went into the episode 400 and the penaddict 101 episode. And we got an enormous amount of feedback. I could not... I was shocked at how many replies we got to that. And we took a lot of that advice and that's what landed in episode 101. But then looking through the rest of the replies, there were a few topics that were a little past like the 101 level stuff that I wanted to discuss like, you know, what is a pen nib? That were repeated enough in these questions that I thought they were worth a little bit of elaborating on. Okay. So I want... That's not too many, but I put a few of these questions here. Some of them were a little bit deeper than the other ones, but some of them are, even if they aren't deeper, like super valid questions that come up all the time that I want to hit. So I want to take these first two little paragraphs and kind of... If you'll read those and we'll kind of discuss them as a whole because they're both kind of similar and there were more questions or comments like this, but I thought these two kind of fit what I want to talk about.

'''Myke Hurley:''' So first one, demystifying fountain pen elitism to make it more accessible to a newcomer. For example, most steel nibs are just as good as most gold nibs. A cartridge only pen isn't a bad thing because cartridges have some great travel uses, right? So like, this is the idea of not saying that you have to always have the very best, the most complicated thing to be a pen fan. And then also, I'd like to hear some commentary on the economics of the hobby in general, how to navigate the acquisition phase, the grail pen buy. The idea of a grail pen is like a pen, your dream pen, basically, the holy grail. Then not going into ridiculous debt just to buy that next pen. What are some tips for safeguarding overspending and getting that feeling that you just have to buy that pen that's way out of your range?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, so these are two different questions from different people, but it's the same idea, right? I definitely dislike any type of elitism, especially around pens and stationery because that's what I do for a living. That's what I, you know, am most passionate about. And like, I get the idea that elitism does exist, right? But I think as a whole, how we were talking about with the community, even if a person owns a very expensive pen, I don't find, at least in this community, and I'm talking in general terms and as a whole, you know, there's obviously specific exceptions, that anyone will lord that over anyone else and tell them that, you know, my Nakaya is so far superior than your platinum preppy. Why do you even come here, right? That's not what this community is about. This community is about saying, I am really glad you found that platinum preppy and are happy with it. And you should be happy with it because it's an amazing pen and it suits you and it suits your budget. It suits your economics. It suits your use case. It suits your feel. And you should never, ever like worry about those types of things. And that's one of those things that I think the community is very helpful with, right? It's your pen. Your $2 pen is just as important as someone else's $200 pen. And I firmly believe that. And that's why, you know, I'm someone who's in a position, in a very fortunate position, to buy some expensive pens that I really, really enjoy for myself. And I always make it a point to bring those pens out in public and throw them on a bar table and say, here, please try this pen. Because it just takes down that elitism completely, I think. You know, even though you're like, you're holding this crazy expensive pen, like I want to share these types of things. And I find the community very, very helpful in that.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' There's definitely people who will take stands on things like, well, I'll only buy a pen if it's got a gold nib, or I'll only buy a pen if it's a piston filler. And that's just something that you'll learn over time, what your particular tastes are, right? So that's not something that came quick to me. I've learned over the years that gold nibs can be, or steel nibs can be just as good, if not better than gold nibs in some situations, and vice versa. So that's more of a personal taste thing. You know, a cartridge-only pen, it's a perfectly wonderful pen if it suits your needs, and it suits your use case, and you like to use the cartridges that come with it. Like, that's a great thing, because you found something for you. And that's what I try to present as much as I can, to say, I'm here to help you find something that's better for you. I'm not here to tell you the thing so you can compare yourself to someone else, right? And that's hard to, like, that's hard to do, like, all of the time. Like, when we talk about, like, I spent a crazy amount of money on a Namiki Milky Way, like, well over $1,000. And how can, like, Brad, how can you turn around and talk about the Secure Pigma Micron? Well, I love that pen equally for what it is, because they're not the same thing, right? I can love that $3 pen just as much as my Milky Way, because of what I can use it for, what it represents, you know, how ubiquitous it is, how successful it's been. Like, I wanted, like, these stories are, like, important to me. So, demystifying the elitism, I think in general, it's mostly demystified in this community. Outside the community, I understand. It's just like any other community. There's always different layers of understanding. Like, if you're coming at it from the outside, it's harder to understand what's going on on the inside. And therefore, people will just jump to conclusions. And you just have to just, like, shake your head and go, yeah. I mean, they just, you know, they're not in it every day and don't really know. And just kind of, you know, let that go. So, inside the community, I'm glad to say that the elitism has definitely died down in the years that I've been doing this.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I think it's one of those things where, as there's more and more new people that are coming, that are younger coming into this, it helps bring down some of the old school ways of doing things.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Mm-hmm. Yeah, for sure. For sure. And now, to expand on the economics part of it, I do have some specific advice on this. And it's easy to say, but it's hard to execute. And it goes with anything, really. It's you have to go slow. You have to go measured. You don't go out there buying anything you see that... When you're very new to a hobby, you want to buy all the things. I did, I'm sure. You know, most people did. And I'm sure now they have a stash of pens that they don't use. The best thing, best advice I can give you, but it's really, really hard to do, is to go slow. There is also the real fear of missing out, the FOMO that we talk about. Mm-hmm. It took me a long time to get over the FOMO. But I've definitely gotten over having to buy the thing because I miss out on it. Yeah. Because I learned years ago that there's always a next thing. Mm-hmm. It's not going to be the exact thing, but there's going to be a next thing. I really learned that with fountain pen ink. In the beginning, it's like, I learned my favorite inks going away. Well, I need to hoard it, and I need to go on the secondary market and stack up on it. Stock up on it. And then later on, like three years later, the ink gets re-released, or there's a new color that's almost exactly the same. And now I've wasted all this time and energy and money for fear of missing out when that was just a bad decision to begin with. So you have to know your budget. Your safeguards are to go slow. Utilize limits. Make sure you're actually using the products that you purchase, which I'm definitely guilty of failing with a lot of times, but working on correcting that. And never overextend yourself. Never, ever overextend yourself. Under any situation, these are non-essential items. We're not talking about food and shelter and clothing here. We're talking about luxury items, even if it's a $3 pen. It's a non-necessity item. So you just have to have these conversations with yourself. Understand what your budget is. Understand what your needs and requirements are, and go from there. It's a complex topic, and there's no one answer, but it's always worth talking about. To kind of wrap that little section up, I got a letter this week, Myke.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Okay.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' It's a long letter. It's a three-page letter. I'm not going to read it all, but there's one paragraph that kind of, this makes me around, it relates to these conversations we just had. And this is what makes me as happy as anything. This is like in the third page of this letter, I get to this paragraph. It says, to wrap up this long story, in almost no time, I've gone from perpetual pen envy to finding my favorite writing pen, the one I'm using right now, the Pentel Energel 0.5. I couldn't be happier. I still love fountain pens and have whole lists of pens, inks, and paper I will buy when I win the lottery one day. But even if I never own a Pro Gear or a Pelican, I know I'll still get to appreciate writing with good pens, and I have you to thank for that. We're talking about a Pentel Energel, and I just want to bust into tears. Like, that's it. That makes me endlessly happy that we can have that discussion. Like, it's all I could do to not cry yesterday when I was reading that. It's all I can do to not cry right now. Like, that, I take this stuff seriously. You know, and it's important to me that everyone finds the thing that makes them happy. And that's what makes me happy, is when other people are. And when I get that note in the mail, like, that's it. That's it for me.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah.

'''Myke Hurley:''' It's pretty great. Yep.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Do we need to carry on with these? Do we need to carry on with reading here so you can compose yourself a little bit?