Editing The Pen Addict 515/transcript (section)

== Myke's Favorite Pens ==


'''Brad:''' Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Like I'm, I'm giggling because like almost opposites in feel style statement. Like I'm, I'm staring at them.

'''Myke:''' But like if, let's imagine you had PO nib on the eight 23, would it be that different to the nine 12?

'''Brad:''' Yeah. I wouldn't like it as much. I wouldn't like that. I wouldn't like the eight 23 with a PO nib. I would like the nine 12 with a different nib than PO, but the eight 23, I, the, a PO nib is not like an all day writing nib. No, And the eight 20, the eight 23, I believe needs that. So no, I wouldn't enjoy a PO nib in the eight 23 as much as I enjoy it in, in the nine 12. So, so yeah, I mean, these are very weird pilot pens. I will admit that like my eight 23 is the clear version again. That's not an easy one to get. And I love how it looks with the purple ink in it. You know, the milky, the milky way, you know, is, you know, uh, a rushy and rotten and fancy and all of that stuff. And the nine 12 has custom additions to it. And the murex is, you know, 50 years old, you know, these aren't like your standard stock off the shelf pilot, but they're pretty close. They're pretty close. Like anyone can get any of these pens that I have minus the artwork I have on the nine 12. Right. It's not like I bought, you know, a limited edition of 50 sailor pen that I hold special because it's limited. And like, I, apparently that doesn't really check my box as much as I, I like to think it might check my boxes. So I thought, I thought it was just an interesting look after I pulled these five pens going, huh, that's a thought. So I don't know. It's just, it's just something I think about. So, um, just for the, the sake of extending this topic and you haven't even let you talk about yours yet. I did pull some non fountain pen favorites of just products that I love that I use practically daily or want them around. And that's one of them is the Ajoto pen, you know, in the non fountain pen category, I use the Ajoto pen as much as anything. Uh, the spoke pencil model four is like my most used pencil by a good long shot. The Musubi indigo denim notebook, which I'm going to finish here pretty soon. I guess I'm avoiding finishing it because I don't have another one, but maybe I'll buy one in San Francisco to be my next notebook. I love the bank paper and the feel of that notebook. And I actually put in washi tape in this list because I find myself literally using washi tape almost every day. So like if you give me all these fountain pens and then you give me this rollerball pen and this mechanical pencil and this notebook and this washi tape, I'm going to be a pretty happy little pen addict here. So pretty happy camper with, with what I've got going on here. So interesting stuff.

'''Myke:''' All right, let's take a break and we can get into a maybe more predictable, less exciting. I don't know. But nevertheless, it's my list and I love my list and everyone else can just back off. You should, I hope you love your list. I think I have a great list, but I don't, I don't know how, I don't know if there's going to be surprises in that list, but. This episode is brought to you by Squarespace, the only one platform for building your brand and growing your business online. You can stand out with a beautiful website, engage with your audience and sell anything. Your products, services, even the content you create. Squarespace has got you covered. There's so many things there, right? So that's what you can do with Squarespace. Look, if you want to build a blog, you can do that. If you want to make a store, you can do that. If you want to build like an introduction page to your company or brand and start an email newsletter to go alongside it, Squarespace has the tools. They really have everything. Even down to the little things like SEO. So you can use their suite of integrated features with useful guides to help maximize prominence among search results. This is important stuff if you want to be noticed online. And then you can also use insights to grow your business with Squarespace as well. Like if you've ever wondered, like where are my site visitors coming from? Where are my sales coming from? Which channels are most effective? Squarespace has to analyze all of that. Once you've got the data, you can improve your website, build a marketing strategy based on your top keywords or your most popular products and content. It's what I love about Squarespace. It scales with you no matter what it is that you want to do. You might start off with one thing and decide, hey, I want to sell some stuff on the side. You can enable the store functions, you know, and it's like, oh, now I've done that. I actually would love to have an email list. You can do that. They really have everything that you need to get started online. Go to squarespace.com slash penaddict. You can sign up for a free trial today with no credit card required. And then when you're ready to launch, use the offer code penaddict and you'll get 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. That is squarespace.com slash penaddict. And when you sign up, use the offer code penaddict to get 10% off your first purchase and show your support for the show. So thanks to Squarespace for their support of this show and RelayFM.

'''Brad:''' All right, let's hear it, Myke. Let's see. Let me preface this by saying I might have, like, just thinking about your pens, I think I might only pick one of these, maybe two. Even though when you say it, I'm like, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's it. So what you got?

'''Myke:''' This wasn't difficult for me to do because I looked at what was in my Sinclair.

'''Myke:''' And they're all my favorite pens.

'''Brad:''' And that's what goes back and forth with you regularly. It's with me every day in my bag. Very portable.

'''Myke:''' Even though at this point, pretty much all of my pens are at the studio.

'''Myke:''' Now I need to bring inks here, actually, I think. I think I'm slowly moving to, like, okay, this is where my pens live. Like, they live here, not at home. Right, right. Because I was just realizing the stuff was at home, which is never getting used. So I've been rotating them out and actually just bringing more here. And I'm just trying to work out what the best long-term strategy for that is. But I have a Sinclair that goes in my backpack every day along with my theme system journal. And it has the pens in it. There is one pen on my list that isn't in the Sinclair. And I'll get to that in a minute. So the first one for me that I picked, I think, is I'm pretty confident. This is not ranked, but I'm pretty confident that this is my number one pen. It is the Platinum 3776 Galaxy Starlight, which I have a stacked nib on, as we spoke about on the show in the past. I adore this pen. I love this pen. I love everything about it. I love the journey that I've been on with this pen. I love the way it looks. You know, I love the feel of the Arushi. I love the way the Raden is, like, encased in it. I actually kind of love that it's had this weird life where the first pen, the first nib broke and it had to go to Japan. They sent another one. Now I've replaced the nib, but now I've cracked a piece off of the cap. Like, just a little piece of the, you know, like, where at the very end of the cap. I don't know how, but one day I just noticed that a little piece had come off. And it's kind of like, this is my pen.

'''Brad:''' Right? I think that's cool. Like, I mean, of course you'd prefer to not have that, but the fact that you're okay with it. Like, I was talking about, like, I'm not going to own a Nakaya unless I'm okay with getting a scratch in my Nakaya. Right? And it's like this comfort zone that you hit going, yeah, this is my pen. And you know why it's this way? Because I use this pen and I love it.

'''Myke:''' And I use it all the time. One thing that's very interesting to me, like, I was looking around at, like, listings for this pen because it is available. I think it's, like, doubled in price.

'''Brad:''' Yeah. You'll see that with different types of pens and based on when you bought them. I think you got yours right before Platinum went through, like, a pretty big price increase. You know, like, all the pen companies have gone through, like, decent size price increases. Platinum and Sailor stood out, you know, to have, like, a higher percentage increase. And, yeah, I think it's just a combination of factors with that particular one, too. Because it's harder to produce.

'''Myke:''' Because it's $2,200 right now on the Nibsmith. Oh. And I think I paid, like, most half of that.

'''Brad:''' Yeah, I was thinking it was even less than $1,000.

'''Myke:''' Actually, I'm looking at the wrong one, so that's why. I'm looking at the Izumo Rodden Galaxy fan.

'''Brad:''' Okay, that's a bigger pen.

'''Myke:''' That's a wider pen. Now I understand what's happened here. My Google searching did not produce me the right pen. And I was very confused. Because I started looking at the images. And I was like, that doesn't look right. It's a completely different pen. So, yeah. But I love this pen. I love this pen so much. It brings me joy to use. And it's, I mean, it's fantastic to use in general. Let alone, like, what I have then done with it since, you know. Yep. And I've been able to, like, to customize it more to my tastes. And I picked between five nibs and then found the right one for this pen. And I love it. I absolutely love this pen. It's like, it's just a joy. It's like a genuine just joy for me to use. I love it. Next one I feel like is pretty obvious. I think it's a pen that at different times I have said is either my favorite pen or the best pen that I own, which is the Pilot M90. Yeah.

'''Brad:''' Yeah. I love the fact that we are both ardent supporters of two very similar yet opposite pens, right? Yeah. These are the M90 and the Murex. Or I should say the Mu in relation to the M90 is the modern version of the Mu that came out for an anniversary edition at the 90th Pilot's 90th anniversary. But the Murex and the Mu are often talked about together, but they offer two different perspectives of design and writing. And we both respect the heck out of the other one. And I own a M90, and I love it. I will never choose the M90 over the Murex, and you're the exact opposite. This is the only one I want. I think that's pretty cool.

'''Myke:''' Yeah. This is the only one for me. Like, I love it. And it's just, you know, it's a pen that I feel like should not be as good as it is.

'''Brad:''' Yep. That's fair. Yeah.

'''Myke:''' It just, you just would feel like, you know, we put so much, like, stock and feeling into the nibs and how perfect the nib needs to be. And the idea that this is a nib made out of the body of a pen, like, it shouldn't be this good. You know, like, you look at other nibs, and they're like these little intricate things made out of gold or whatever, right? And then this thing comes along. And I guess it's a steel nib, right? Like, ultimately. Yeah. And it holds a candle to literally every other pen that I own.

'''Brad:''' Yeah, it shouldn't work, right?

'''Myke:''' It shouldn't work. Like, and something for me, which I find funny, like, again, we talk about, like, pen reliability and how quickly will it start to write. And then all these other companies have these slipkits. Nothing starts up faster than my M90. 100% of the time, it will beat anything else. Doesn't matter. I could have not used that pen for the three months. I pick it up, do one scribble, and it's good to go. I don't know why. I have no idea why. But it's like these little things just make this so special. I have a medium nib. It was funny because, like, I looked at it and I was like, did I even do nib sizes? And it's got medium on it. Like, it says it. It's in a different place. But I looked at it and I was like, I wouldn't be surprised if they only offered in one size, right? Because, again, massively complicated. And, like, I mean, I don't know how many more times I needed to say this, but Pilot, bring it back. I know. You are sitting on a literal gold mine with this pen. Everyone's going to want one if you do it. Just do it.

'''Brad:''' Yeah. Yeah. It's a... What do you... For a long time, you were using the Purple Pilot ink cartridges with it. What do you use?

'''Myke:''' I've got Red now. Yeah. As a Red Pilot. That's cool. I'm waiting for those, the Orochizuku cartridges. Yep. Yep. To pop up because I would like to mix it up with some Orochizuku.

'''Brad:''' Same thing. Like, for my literal most expensive pen I own, when I get my hands on the Orochizuku Tsukiyo cartridges, that's what's going in my Milky Way. It just is. It just is. It just is.

'''Myke:''' It's so good. And the idea of the convenience there with the cartridge is like, yeah, I'm so into it. This is, for some reason, you know, just because this pen is so small, I don't want to put a converter in it because it's never going to take that much ink because I could get from one of their regular cartridges. The M90 is very clearly made for cartridges. It's a pocket pen. Yes. I agree with that. It is the only pen that I own where I post 100% of the time.

'''Brad:''' Yeah. You pretty much have to. I mean, technically you don't.

'''Myke:''' I can get by. But just because of the way this pen is built, the cap becomes the entire body. That's rare. Even in other pocket pens, it feels like the cap doesn't take up as much of the body of the pen, but it basically just leaves you with a grip section. That's all that's left. What a design. Oh, it's just a masterpiece. It's a masterpiece of pen design.

'''Brad:''' It's a better design than the Murex. I will grant that.

'''Myke:''' This is like, to go back onto what you were saying earlier, like this is the pen Johnny I would make. Right. Because it is like the pure essence of the pen. This is just like as simple as a pen design could be, also as complicated as a pen design could be, which is a funny mixture. Right. Like it is definitely both of those things, but it is just like it gets no better. It just doesn't get better than this. It just doesn't. Oh man. I love it so much. What a special piece. And I'm so thankful that I own two of these.

'''Brad:''' That was literally my next question. I think you have like, this is one you have a backup for.

'''Myke:''' Yeah. I'm still on my original and I have a backup M90 in a drawer that may never ever get used. I feel like if I did something to this pen, if I lost this M90, I probably wouldn't replace it. Yeah. Unless I had a real reason to, you know what I mean?

'''Brad:''' Yeah.

'''Myke:''' Yeah. Until pilot, get off your butts and make one of these. All right. So I wanted to put a canalea on the list. Mm-hmm. I had to really think about this. Just like visual wise, nothing beats canalea pens for me. Mm-hmm. They're very special. I had to think about it. Like, I really like my Hanukkah Lani. It's the one I have with the Milo Lay Band. Mm-hmm. But my favorite at the moment is the Haleakala Silhouette. Yeah. For a number of reasons. One, this was a special pen for me. I bought it at the DC Pen Show and accidentally ended up choosing the one that was on the cover of Pen World Magazine.

'''Brad:''' We love that story.

'''Myke:''' I love that story. I just love that that was the thing that I could have done. But Haleakala has a lot of significance to me because it's on Maui where I've spent some wonderful times with me and Adina. It's where we went on honeymoon. You can see Haleakala from where we were staying.

'''Myke:''' I love the yellow.

'''Brad:''' It is the least likely to think it would work as a pen design, but it is executed wonderfully. Right? Yeah.

'''Myke:''' If I told you that the colors are yellow, rose gold, gray, and black, it's like there's no way. But it works. Funnily enough, this is one that they do not have available right now. Okay. I don't know if it's sold out. I don't know if maybe it's gone from their lineup. I don't know. But I have to put some Instagram images in the show notes.

'''Brad:''' Oh, no. Do you need a backup of this one too?

'''Myke:''' I hadn't thought of that. Don't talk about it.

'''Brad:''' Just for the record, I don't think I have any backup pens. I don't think.

'''Myke:''' No. I have another stacked nib in this pen. This fascinates me. This is the Zoom one. This is the Zoom nib one, which is absurd. Yep. In the greatest possible way. But again, it's like they match so perfectly. I have one of the Sailor inks in this. One of the numbered ones, the Ink Studio inks. I can find out which one it is, but I can never remember the numbers. But it's a really great yellow. And it matches so perfectly with this pen. Especially where like, you know, yellow ink can be hard to see at times. But this one is vibrant enough. But then also with it being the really, really thick stacked nib, it lays down so much ink. It's always visible. But what I also like about this, even though it is almost like a marker pen, it's still really usable, really writeable. I'm using 770 in this. Okay. Ink Studio 770. Which is, yeah, I really, really love this pen.

'''Brad:''' I get it, man. It's a stunner. Okay.

'''Myke:''' Next is, okay. The next one is like, in my Sinclair, I have the King of Pen that we bought and we each sent to Jonathan. And he did something special with it. So I have Arushi on it, right?

'''Brad:''' Mm-hmm.

'''Myke:''' And I know I wanted to pick a King of Pen. But I actually didn't go with this one. Because I feel like I wanted to pick my first King of Pen. Gotcha. And one that I think more exemplifies my general taste of pens, which is the 1911 Royal Tangerine King of Pen. That makes sense.

'''Brad:''' I get, yeah, I get what you're saying there. Yep.