Editing The Pen Addict 512/transcript

{{Infobox podcast transcript
| name            = The Pen Addict
| number          = 512
| title           = Diamine Cookie Monster
| date            = May 4th, 2022
| hosts           = [[Brad Dowdy]]<br>
[[Myke Hurley]]
| guests          = 
| link            = [https://www.relay.fm/penaddict/512 Episode 512]
| audiolink       = [https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.libsyn.com/secure/thepenaddict/The_Pen_Addict_512.mp3 Audio Episode 512]
| length          = 62
}}

'''Brad:''' From RelayFM, this is The Pen Addict, episode 512. Today's show is brought to you by Pen Chalet. My name is Myke Hurley and I am joined by the first and last word in fountain pens, Brad Dowdy. What are you doing to me?

'''Brad:''' I forgot, as I was saying it, I was like, what did I call him last time? And then it just fell out of my mouth as I was talking. Yeah, first word, incomplete to the end and last word. So yeah, I'm good on the first word part. I was like, hey, here's a thing. Let me butcher it as much as possible and then just leave it hanging like that and let everyone correct me and do the rest of the research for me. So first word, sure, I'll buy that. Last word, technically no.

'''Myke:''' Well, we'll see about that.

'''Brad:''' Technically no.

'''Myke:''' We don't do this for a few, but I like to pick on it every now and then. What are we using today, Brad? What you got in front of you?



== Pens and Ink Choices ==


'''Brad:''' I have about 11 fountain pens inked right now. I was looking at them yesterday. I'm really, I'm very, very content with the pens I currently have in rotation. And out of those, out of that group, I picked out two that are kind of, I'm more interested in, right? Like I can't, like I only have 10 fingers. I can't write with 11 pens at a time, right? Like I could tape each one of them to a finger and I'd still be short of fingers to use like Edward Scissorhand style.

'''Myke:''' But that doesn't seem like a way to make this decision is if you could tape them to your fingers.

'''Brad:''' I mean, why not? Like I would be okay with that. Maybe we could pull that off one day. I don't know. Maybe we're testing out.

'''Myke:''' I'm not completely sure why that would be like a system. Like I'm broken, man. You've done it.

'''Brad:''' You mean there's no system to taping 10 different pens to your 10 different fingers?

'''Myke:''' No, but like it's a thing to like for you to decide how many pens you should have, it should be the same amount of fingers that you have.

'''Brad:''' It just happens to, when I'm unable to count them on, you know, my two hands and I have to start going into like other digits, like in my toes, I tend to have too many pens inked up. So that was my overall point. And I'm kind of at maximum pen inked upness. And I'm not able to use all the things. So therefore, for this show, I've picked out two that I've disattached from my fingers, I guess, to talk about further. Yesterday, I inked up a new pen yesterday, which is something I shouldn't do when I already have like 10 other pens inked up. I need two more fingers. What are you going to do? Yeah, I know, I know. I had an urge for a good blue-black ink. Now, I love my oranges and I love my blue-blacks. And I usually, when I have blue-black inks inked up, I have, if I have 10 pens inked up, I probably have like four different blue-black inks, right? So I needed more blue-black ink in my pen wrap and my pen storage. You know, I've got a lot of oranges inked up right now. I've got a lot of greens inked up. I have yellow inked up. I have purple inked up. I have pink inked up. I have one blue-black ink inked up and that's Pilot Orochizuku Shinkai in the recently mentioned and purchased Canalea Levalani fountain pen. But, and I've been using that pen a bunch because one, it's great and two, it's my only blue-black ink pen. And I wanted to add in another one and it had been a while since I had a Nakaya in the rotation. And I'm, of course, a huge Nakaya fan and I was missing that writing feel with having a Nakaya. It's very unique for those who have been lucky enough to try one out. You can, you know it's different. And I wanted to use one of my favorite inks, the Platinum Mount Fuji blue-black, which is just glorious. And I have those in cartridges. So I took out my Nakaya portable writer in the Kuro Teminori finish. This is a very traditional Nakaya style. It's the black with the red underlying color and very just traditional kind of long cigar-ish type of shape. It's a very, I won't say entry-level Nakaya, but it's kind of like your base-level Nakaya, right? It's a very, very pure Nakaya setup. And a stock, fine nib, rhodium-plated nib, rhodium-plated clip. So it's kind of all the way around a great pen. And for some reason, being this classic Nakaya, it always screams blue-black to me, right? That's the most kind of classic fountain pen pairing in my mind. Like it's a black pen, but I wouldn't use a black ink in it type of thing. So this is a perfect setup. I started using it yesterday. I haven't put it down since, and I really love it. And it's just an awesome writer. So if y'all have any questions about that, I did post just like kind of a nib picture on Instagram yesterday because I was enjoying it so, so much. So it is out there. Secondly, this pen I've been using for maybe two weeks now. I got it at the Atlanta Pen Show, and it's a new brand to me called Tesori. So the model I have is the Tesori Venezia 2.0 Green-Orange-Blue Pebble. My green-Orange-Blue Pebble. That is the name of this pen. The Venezia is the shape, I believe, of the pen. So Tesori, I got to speak with John Tello, the maker behind the brand, about all of his different pens at the Atlanta Pen Show. And this is the style I ended up with. It's one of the smaller, narrower type of pens that Tesori makes. A lot of them are a little bit bigger, but a lot of them, if you go to their website, which I'll link this particular pen, but if you pop on the website, very colorful, bright, you know, very Italian-style colors, right? You know, you just look at it, and they're just bright and bold and colorful. And the unique thing, Myke, if you go to the homepage of tesoriitaly.com, you can see a bunch of the Venetian glass that John uses on the finials of the pen when manufacturing these pens. And so it's this little neat homage, if you will, that's a lot of times color matching. You know, like mine has like an orange flower on the top. They look like little candies. Yeah, they look like little candies, but this Venetian...

'''Myke:''' Like a hard candy, which is usually sold at the seaside here, called rock candy. Mm-hmm, sure. And it looks a lot like that.

'''Brad:''' Yeah, yeah. So it's also known as Mele Fiori, I think, is kind of the name for it locally there in Italy. I'm sure I'm butchering that, but that's how we roll. Anyway, it's a beautiful little add-on to a really neat and unique pen. And what I like about this pen, and I think it's probably the, I don't know, the most... Controversial is not the right word, but it's the decision. It's the inflection point purchase on this pen is there is no section, no traditional fountain pen grip section. The cap is very short and just covers the nib and then a few threads below where the nib would screw into the barrel on a traditional fountain pen. And then the section goes right into the barrel, right? Which I like. I like the style. I like the setup. There's plenty of other pens in this design. Yeah. But, you know, most people are used to, say, a concave type of section, like a dedicated grip section. And while this kind of has it visually, it's not built in that traditional sense to where there's like a curvature there for your fingers. So I think that, you know, people will have to decide whether they like that style or not. I happen to like it. I like, you know, gripping closer to the nib. And it's wide like a traditional section, but not too wide. But it's just essentially straight-sided right in that area. But I've been using this pen. I bought this one. And I've been using it to get ready to review it here probably in the next month or so, right? Just giving it some time to use to get some ideas about it, get a feel of it. And this one was hard to ink up, Myke. Like, I didn't know. You know, we have to go matchy-matchy with a very bright acrylic like this. And it's got yellows and greens and blues, as the name would dictate. But various shades of those, like the yellows kind of go into brown and the blues kind of go into teals and things like that. So, I picked kind of a complementary to the yellow in the barrel. And this barrel that I have has kind of a yellow, a golden yellow barrel band in it. So, it kind of stands out there too. I picked the Pilot Oro Shizuku 101st Anniversary Daiku Koten, which is the yellowing that I enjoyed. 100th anniversary, by the way. No. That's an issue in your LinkedIn. You are incorrect. I don't know what to tell you about that.

'''Myke:''' Well, when I go to penaddict.com, it says 100th.

'''Brad:''' I mean, the label on the bottle says one thing. The release date says another thing. And it's the 101st anniversary.

'''Myke:''' So, why did you not write 101 on your website review then?

'''Brad:''' If you're so sure about it, Mr. Smart.

'''Brad:''' I only like to cut up mostly on the podcast and talk about these silly little ticks that I have and calling these the 101st. It just doesn't roll off in text because then I'm going to get the actualies in there that I typoed it. And it's like, you know what? I didn't typo it. And now I just have to reply to you telling me that I typoed it. And that would be a waste of my time. It's much more fun to do it in this manner to where only you can tell me I'm wrong. And then I can just ignore everybody else.

'''Myke:''' Oh, I was going to say none. You don't understand.

'''Brad:''' I was like, no, no, no. You're wrong. You're wrong. But if I just kept getting the, hey, you have a typo thing in the written post, that wouldn't work as well for me. So, yeah. Forget that. 101st for life. So, there you go. It's a perfect match. It's a great yellow pen. It's great, great yellow ink. Great complimentary color to this pen. I'll have more on this pen later when I review it. And then, you know, might also have, John might have also hooked me up with a certain giveaway similar type pen. So, to be determined. And I'm on a real run with these some pretty great giveaways post-Atlanta pen show. So, we're doing lots of fun things with that. Last thing I wanted to mention. I don't think we mentioned this on the podcast. And I didn't go back in the last few episodes to check the links. But the Foglietto memo cards. This is a new purchase for me from Nero's Notes. So, my friend, our friend Stuart Lennon from Nero's Notes made a blog post about these cards. And it's a little index card system. The cards are A7 size. But they're, you know, little note cards. You know, what we would call an index card or a note card. And the company's out of France. And they started carrying them at Nero's. And he wrote this post. And the depth and breadth of the offerings that Foglietto had. And the different layouts. The different formats. The different accessories that they had. Just for these memo cards.

'''Brad:''' Obviously, checked all my boxes. So, I ordered a bunch. And by a bunch, I mean like $140 worth of Foglietto stuff from Nero's Notes. To ship across the pond. So, it was not an inexpensive purchase. But this is something that is right up a lot of our alleys. You know, people want to find like these type of note cards. And these index cards that are fountain pen friendly. And useful. And well designed. And then they have, you know, accessories. Like a little wooden box. Or like a paper storage box. You can do different things with. And all different formats in the card. So, I've been using those to test them out. To figure out how I'm going to use them. I haven't solved that question yet. Only how. But like today, I'm using a card for show notes. And when I'm done, I will stick it in the archival box. If you're familiar with like the field notes archival box. It's a similar type of box. But built for. Purpose built for these memo cards. And there's little index cards you can have. And things like that. So, this is a new to me item that you'll be hearing more about. As I kind of explore how I'm going to use them. But in first pass, you should know that they are really fountain pen friendly. So, that's pretty cool. Cool. That's the top level. Things I'm using the most. Type of what I'm using. The other thing which I didn't link. Because I talk about it all the time. The other most used item is my Hobonichi cousin. A5 cousin. Daily use. I'm back on the correct date, Myke. We have, you know. Our long national nightmare is over. And we're in good shape on that now. So, we're back to the correct week. The proper week. And that gets constant use. I'm very proud of you. I was worried for you. Mm-hmm. Constant use out of me. So, you put some links in here. What you're using. I am. I'm compelled. Let's say that. What do you got?



== Pen Addict Products ==


'''Myke:''' Okay. So, I'm using two pens today. One is the Pen Addict Ajoto pen. Nice. You know. Just got to rep my buddy.

'''Brad:''' And just for clarity. You have the orange with black speckles. Black with orange speckles. Or you have the black with orange speckles. I couldn't remember. Why couldn't I remember? Okay, cool.

'''Myke:''' Both available. I prefer the black with orange. Yep. But, you know. I'll put a link to those. I'll show you if you can buy them. Yep. I'm using a 1911 King of Pen Royal Tangerine. Yeah. This is decked out with a broad nib. And inked with rubber. Osterfire on fire. Mm. Consult is my handy note reference guide. To remind me what ink is in it. I have like four orange inks, right? So, like. Yeah. Who can know which is which?

'''Brad:''' Oh, yeah. I have. Let's see. I have at least two inked up right now. And which doesn't include fire and fire. Which I usually always have inked up. Yeah. But I was testing some new orange inks that I got at Atlanta. So, I took that one out of the rotation. But you can't have too many orange inks.

'''Myke:''' No. I didn't realize until just now that that's two Brad Dowdy products. Which is fun. Which is fun. And also, I'm using the Studio Neat panel book. Which I've used for many, many, many years. Sitting here while taking show notes while we record. I've already written down a couple of sneezes and coughs that you won't hear in the episode. So, that's what goes down on my little piece of paper in front of me. So, that's what I've been using today.

'''Brad:''' Yeah. Greatest show notes notebook ever.

'''Myke:''' Yeah. I mean, of course, I have my journal and stuff like that. But I won't be using that until later on. So, who knows what two pens I'm going to pick for that one.

'''Brad:''' Exactly. Will you switch it up? So, like you're using this. This is kind of like. Yeah. Yeah. That's why it's hard. Like I have 11 pens inked up right now. These are the ones that are exciting the most today. Or this hour. And later when I grab my planner. We might mix it up. Because I used both of these pens yesterday.

'''Myke:''' Oh, I purposely do it. So, every show that I record in a day. I use a different pen to take the notes with. I use two pens. One to make some headings. And one to actually take the notes. And then when I do my journal. Similarly, I use notes. And head. Like one to do the head. One to do the notes. But I use two different ones. And it will be different from the other pens I've used that day.

'''Brad:''' Exactly. Exactly. So, yeah. While these will sit here. And be at easy reach for just the things I want to do. As I go through the day. If I'm actually going to do something specific. Journal and planning. I will grab a different pen. But without question. So, yeah. Good stuff.

'''Brad:''' We got a couple of news items to get to. But I think first we should talk about where we can get some more pens. That we can use in our daily.

'''Myke:''' Oh, man. I want some pens. Let me tell you where you can go to get some pens. Pen Chalet. But not just pens. If you want ink. If you want notebooks. If you want accessories. Maybe you need a converter for your pen. Maybe you're looking for a new case to put your stuff in. They've got it all at Pen Chalet. Roller balls. Fountain pens. Ballpoints. Mechanical pencils. And so much more. Along with all those wonderful accessories. From your favorite brands. They have very fast. Very reliable customer service. They run discounts. Every couple of weeks. You'll find discounts over at Pen Chalet. As well as new stuff. Whenever there's anything new. It's getting put on Pen Chalet. You're always going to be able to go there. And find new products. And new deals. They do international shipping. With great shipping rates. And if you're in the U.S. You'll get free shipping. On orders of over $50. Pen Chalet has low prices. On high quality products. And they offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee. If you go to Pen Chalet.com. That's P-E-N-C-H-A-L-E-T.com. Click the podcast link at the top of the website. When you enter the password Pen Addict. You will get a code that you need. To save 10% on anything at Pen Chalet. And also. You'll be able to feast your eyes. On some very special products. Very special discounts. Just for Pen Addict listeners. What's caught your attention this time Brad?



== New Topics and News Items ==


'''Brad:''' How much time do we have? Gosh. I scrolled too far down to see a pen. I meant to look at a couple weeks ago. That is still in there. We'll get to that in a minute. Right now. Right off the jump. They have some deals on some Conklin pens. The All-American Olive Wood. Which I've seen a bunch of pictures of online. That seems to be a very popular one right now. At a very spectacular. Practically entry level. What I'd consider entry level price.

'''Brad:''' Separately. The Conklin Word Gauge. Which has always been. A popular pen. In Conklin's lineup. Got a. Got a barrel upgrade. And into the. These. Like this carbon fiber looking style. And they have different colors. So it's like a black pen. But with different color ink windows. That allow you to see the word gauge. It's a really neat pen. If you haven't seen the Conklin Word Gauge. I'd say it's probably one of the more popular ones. Because of the neat ink window feature. That will actually. Kind of say. Hey. You've written 500 words. Or a thousand words. By how much you. You. How much ink you've drained. From the pen. Which I. I just always find hilarious. And a lot of people get a. A lot of. A kick out of. I know. Sarah. Who writes for the pen addict. Is also. A. A novelist. And a. A fiction writer. I know she uses the word gauge. Sometimes. And tries to match up. Like. Did I really write this many words. For our new. A fountain pen users. The Lamy Safaris. Are on. Are on a good sale. Right now. The stock editions. Of the Safari. It's a really good price. If you're looking to. To dabble in. Fountain pens. For the first time. The. The Safari. It's like. I don't know. Eight great colors. Right now. Just like in their stock lineup. At a really. Really good price. And finally. For. Our. Our. More fancy pen users. Myke. The. The Pelican 205. Petrol marbled. Was one of the. Great additions. That they released. I think last year. It might have been. Two years ago. You don't normally see. This type of price. On this 205. Petrol marbled. And I. Don't think they will last. Long. At this price. So yeah. Very very cool. And. I am unfortunately. Smitten with the. Visconti. Medici. Astral fountain pens. So these are some. Brooks materials. Visconti's. I don't need a pen. In this price point. Right now. It's very very expensive. But this is a very good price. For this pen. That comes in red. There's a red model. And a blue model. So. I've seen these in person. They're stunning. I just don't need it. I can't. I can't spend that kind of money. But I. That. It's kind of like. At the top of. Of my. Just kind of. I lust after this pen. In list. So. You know. That's. That's a good list too. You know. To have the. The. The awesome pens. That you're probably. Not going to buy. But. You know. Maybe one of these years. It. It shows up. At the house.

'''Myke:''' So go check it out. For yourself right now. At penchalet.com. Enter the password. Penaddict. When you click the podcast link. At the top of the website. And you'll find everything you need. A thanks to penchalet. For the continued support. Of this show. And Relay FM.

'''Brad:''' So I want to hit. A couple of new topics. That crossed. Our respective. Desks. This week. At least our screens. Myke. I don't think. Either of us have. Any of these products yet. But. Probably the first one. We don't have. Because it doesn't exist yet. But I love. I love. How Diamine. Has. Completely invested. In the. Reddit. Slash. RSS. Fountain pens. Community. Which is a really large. Community on Reddit. If you're a Reddit user. Or you don't even have to be. A Reddit user. It's a great hang. It's a great. Informational spot. It's a very helpful. Um. You know. Board on Reddit. For fountain pens. And Diamine. Has. Over. Last. Three years. Maybe four years. Has collaborated. With. The board. To make. An ink. So. In the past. They have. They've created. Diamine. Earl Grey. Aurora. Borealis. Writer's Blood. Like. These sound like. Normal stock. Popular. Famous. Diamine. Inks. That. A lot of people. Listening to the show. Use. Did you know. That they actually came. From. A community. A community. Uh. I guess. Design. Of. The ink color. The product name. You know. The features of the ink. What's. What is it going to be. So. Uh. I thought it was really cool. And. And. Related to our previous. Pincholet. Sponsor. Like. You can go to a pincholet. And click on the. Diamine. Ink page. And they're all there. Right. You can go buy. Earl Grey. Today. Which has always been. Just a really popular. Gray ink. Or Aurora Borealis. Or Writer's Blood. So. It's some really. Really. Neat. Stuff. So. They have. A. Little. They're just getting started. On this year's color. And collaboration. So. They're asking people. To comment. With the below. Information. Ink name. Color. Color. Shading. Yes or no. Shimmer. Yes or no. Specify the color. And other comments. Like. Could you build. Like. I'm not trying to set you up here. Because I haven't filled this out. Like. I haven't thought about this either. But like. Could you build. An ink. Just off of. Hey. Here's the name. I want. Here's the color I want. Do I want it to be a shader? Do I want it to have shimmer? What. What do you think. About this kind of. Hey. Let's. Let's make an ink.

'''Myke:''' Seems complicated. Nah. It's easy.

'''Brad:''' It's easy. Everyone has ink ideas. No.

'''Myke:''' No. No. No. No. No. As diamond. Mm-hmm. It feels complicated. Like. For somebody to just say.

'''Brad:''' It's a complicated start. Yeah. Like.

'''Myke:''' I'm looking at one here. Octarine. Fluorescent. Greenish. Yellow. Shading. Yes. Shimmer. Yes. Purple.

'''Myke:''' Right. Like. I mean. I mean. I obviously. I don't know how to make ink. Right. Like. If I knew how to make ink. Maybe it would be like. Oh. I can do that. Or I can't do that. Or I'd know where to get started. But like. To me.

'''Myke:''' It's impossibly complicated. You know. It's just like. What do you want? I would like the ink. To leave the bottle. In a tartan pattern.

'''Brad:''' I think that's a good start. I. Like. Yeah. Yeah. Why not. You know. Why not get crazy. Right. This is the opportunity. To have. Your madness. Mocked by the internet. And. And to come away with a. A more. Simple. Simple color ink. So yeah. Earl Grey. Was pretty basic. Aurora Borealis. Brought out a little bit. Of the brightness. Of like. Shading. Writer's blood. Was. Kind of story driven. You know. It's. It's a really. Fun. Kind of. Story behind it. And just. You know. The color of the ink. And the usefulness of the ink. If I was to make one. I don't know. If they would be up. For doing anything. With some kind of. Of permanence. I don't know. If any of these past ones. Had permanence. Aurora Borealis. And Earl Grey. Didn't. I don't know. If. Writer's blood. Did. But yeah. You know. I would. I'm pretty. Boring. If I'm going to create an ink. I'm not going to go wild. Like you. But. You know. You know. Just like your basic. Blue. Permanent. Give me a permanent. Blue black. But something. I don't know. What could be different. About a permanent. Blue black. You're kind of. Chemically limited. I assume. Which is why you don't see. Anything like that. But. I don't know. Maybe this is an opportunity. For me to think.

'''Myke:''' Just write it in. That's all it takes apparently.

'''Brad:''' Yeah. Let's see. We could call it. Cookie Monster. And it's blue black. Shading. Permanent. With. Brown sheen. Oh God. And yeah. Or maybe. Like gold sparkles. And brown sheen. For like chocolate chip cookies. And.

'''Myke:''' Turns out you shouldn't be allowed to.

'''Myke:''' Haven't you already made inks? Like. I have. I have. Surely you've got better. Ideas.

'''Brad:''' I am purposely. I am purposefully. Avoiding. The exact thing that I want to make. That are. That are in my mental notes. Future. Future releases. I will not be making a shimmer ink. So therefore. I can. Build a shimmer ink. For a. Diamine. And slash our fountain pens. Sounds great. I'm sure everyone's going to be on board. With your. Yep. Diamine Cookie Monster. Diamine Cookie Monster. Yeah. Yeah. So we got a little. Little fuzzy blue. And maybe a little. Chocolate. Chocolate chip cookie. Chocolate chip cookie. Shimmer. Something like that. Sounds great. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Um. On a more. Cleanly designed. Note. Than Diamine Cookie Monster. The. Blackwing. Uh. Obey Giant pencils. Cross my radar. And. Talk about something that checks all of my boxes. That I. I didn't buy. I'm a huge. Shepard Fairy fan. Have been for. Ages. Way. Uh. Way back since. Uh. You know. Andre the Giant has a posse. Times. Um. Way before he. He created the. Uh. The famed. Uh. Obama Hope poster. So. I. I love seeing anything Shepard Fairy. Creates and collaborates with. Um. Like. I missed out on these. I'm not anxious to go out and rush to. To get these. But. They are kind of perfect. Like. It's one of the cooler. Blackwing. Collaborations that I've seen. Mainly because. I. I really. Really like the artist. Uh. Involved. And they also did a. Um. A notebook. The. The Blackwing Slate notebook. They make. Um. I don't recall the slates. It's been a while since I've looked at Blackwing's notebooks. Uh. They now have a pencil sleeve on the spine. Which. I kind of dig. So. I don't know. I don't recall the original ones having that. Um. I. They sent me some of the original slates. When they were first introducing them. And I know they've gone through a bunch of changes. Since then. But I've missed out. That these actually have the. The pencil holder on the exterior. And I think it's kind of cool. So. Uh. Chat says they've always had. That. Uh. In the slate. So maybe it was a different model of notebook. I got first. So. Uh. These look great. And then the link that you sent me. Which I also had a listener send me. Was for. The collaboration. With Grovemade. So this is a Blackwing. Wing collaboration. What do you. As a non-pencil user. I want you to. Lead this discussion. On the Grovemade. Blackwing.

'''Myke:''' Pencil kit. This fits. This fits. With a lot of. Grovemade's products. I own Grovemade products. And like some of them. But it's like.

'''Myke:''' It just looks nice.

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

'''Myke:''' And it's tidy. Mm-hmm. Um. It's not. Like. Doing. I mean. You would never use it.

'''Brad:''' Like. No. It's not for you. But. No. Like. For the people who are into this. I. I. Can see. I. It's a little.

'''Brad:''' Much for me. Not price wise. Just in. It's a little much in. Existence. Yeah. Like. It's. It's nice and clean. And well done. I get the idea.

'''Myke:''' It's like a. A block of wood. With. I don't know. Something inside. Which you can put six. Blackwing pencils. Stand them into. And a sharpener. So it's like a holder. For all of these items.

'''Myke:''' You know. It's just. It's very form.

'''Brad:''' It's a. A whole. I think. I think you nailed. What. What I. Why I'm not going. Ooh. Ah. At this. Because it is. What it is. Is a holder. It doesn't do. Anything. If it had.



== Grovemade Pencil Kit Discussion ==


'''Myke:''' An automatic pencil sharpener in it. Yeah.

'''Brad:''' The sharpener is not built in. It doesn't. It's got a. It's got a hole. For you to put your blackwing sharpener in. And you would. It's got six holes. For your blackwing pencils. For your blackwing pencils.

'''Myke:''' Out of this to use it.

'''Brad:''' As well. If it's notched. If it's grooved. Because the. It's a. It's a hex based sharpener. It looks like it's cut out in the grooves. I don't think you will. I think it would. You would still have to hold the base. While you're doing. While you're sharpening it. Unless the base is really heavy. There's no. No. There's no base heavy enough. That would. That would be able to handle that. But. I. I get it. Like. I get it. Like. I. I don't need this. I get it. I like it. I think it'll do well. The thing it reminded me of. Which I learned from. Our friends at. At. The Erasable podcast. That the. That John Steinbeck. Had a. 24 pencil. Writing ritual. Where. Every day. He would sharpen. 24 pencils. And. Just. Meticulously. Use a pencil. Until it was dull. Pick up the next pencil. And when he made it through 24. He was done for the day. And this is kind of. This reminds me. Of a very ritual based. Writing experience. Right. You could just take this. Every day. Sharpen your six pencils. Dulls. And write them until they're dull. And then put them back. And the next day. Rinse and repeat. I don't know how many people. Would actually use it for that. But that's what this kind of. All in one. Set up. Set up. Reminds me of. And I think it's cool. Like. I think a lot of people. Would really. Really get into this. It's nice. Yeah. I know.

'''Myke:''' I have some. Grovemear products. And it is this thing. Like. Is it really nice. Yeah. Is it the best thing. I don't know. Like. Yeah. They make really good products.

'''Brad:''' Yeah. I think this is one of the least attractive. Blackwing pencils. That they've made. It's just black. It's just super basic. And Grovemade's logo. Doesn't really.

'''Brad:''' Serve. Like the. The foil stamping. That these pencils need. Right. It looks very. Weird. Like pencil machine. It looks like. You know. Print machine. Like you would get it. At CWPE. Where you just like. Put a quarter in the machine. And it stamps like. Brad Dowdy on. On the pencil. That's what it looks like.

'''Myke:''' I would like to raise. An issue. With Blackwing. What do you think. My issue is. It's a lot. And it won't stop. No. It's the. That's my issue. It's the buy. So. Blackwing buy. Obey giant. It's the wrong way around. Ah. Right. So. I've been through this a bunch of times. The little X that people use. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What's the order. Right. Like two by four. Right. Collaborative. But people just think. They just say X. Now. Well no. Yes. It's not X. It's buy. It should be the other way around. Because Blackwing made the thing. Right. Obey giant. Didn't make a pencil on behalf of Blackwing. Blackwing made the pencil. So it should be obey by Blackwing. What makes this even worse. For me. Right. Is. The Grovemade listing. Says Grovemade by Blackwing. Which is the right way around. But the pencil says. Blackwing by Grovemade. Because Blackwing got it wrong. It's the wrong way around. Yep. So I think for whatever reason. Blackwing just want their name to be first. Is the only thing I can work out here. Mm-hmm. Because it's the wrong way around. It's something by something. It's whoever made it. Is the last name. Right. Because it's by them. Mm-hmm. Drives me bananas. I don't know why people get this wrong. I feel like there needs to be some other thing. Like some other like delineation between the two words. If everyone's just going to do whatever order they want. Mm-hmm. And pay any attention to the logic. Or say it out loud. Right. Like what do you say out loud? Blackwing X Grovemade. Is that what you say? Like that doesn't make any sense. Right. Why would you say that?

'''Brad:''' Yeah. I never say the X. I appreciate the visual collaborative meaning of what it designates. I do think there is an order that gets mismatched a lot of times like you're talking about.

'''Myke:''' People don't care because they don't have to say things aloud like I do. Right. Right. Right. But I'll never say. A lot of these kinds of things bug me more because I have to say them out loud.

'''Brad:''' Yeah. And I think if we rewind. And I don't remember what I said when I started this. But I would. I probably said. Because this is what I usually said. I would say the Blackwing and Obey Giant collaboration. Right. I would. I would never say the Blackwing X Obey Giant. So yeah.

'''Myke:''' Why don't people just do the ampersand? Yeah. Yeah. The ampersand would fix this. Mm-hmm. You know?

'''Brad:''' Mm-hmm. Yeah. Ampersands look cool too. Yeah. Like you make some fancy ampersands. Like so yeah. You're not going to get any argument from me. You might get an argument in my email box that you'll never see. But I don't care what anyone says, Brad. Because they're wrong. I know. We did a whole bit on this like 100 episodes ago. Yeah. Trying to sort this out. Because someone got it like egregiously wrong, I think. Everyone gets it wrong. You know like a real problem with it. Everyone seems to get it wrong. I'll have to go look at my collaborations. I probably have it wrong too. Or have it both ways, right? I haven't looked and I'm not going to. And nor should you. Because I don't want to hear it from you on the rest of the show, Myke.

'''Myke:''' You've done it wrong.

'''Myke:''' I knew you were looking. And you were the same as Blackwing because you do it in other orders. Yes. So you've got a Johto by Pen Addict. Pen Addict by Wright. Pen Addict by Caran Dache. Right? So two of them you got wrong. But the Johto one. Two of them you got right. The Johto one you got wrong.

'''Brad:''' Do you know why I got the Johto one right? My guess is that the Johto.

'''Myke:''' You've got the Johto one wrong. Oh. Because you've done a Johto by Pen Addict. But that's not correct.

'''Brad:''' Right? That is not correct. Yes.

'''Myke:''' Because the right notepads and the Caran Dache you got correct. They're both Pen Addict by and then the company. I'm so glad we're doing this right now. But then like the Retro 51 that you did is like the Pen Addict plus Mint Lodica. Like that's perfect, right? Because it's just like whatever. This one, Pen Addict Fire on Fire by. You're actually written by, B-Y, by Robert Oster. You know?

'''Brad:''' I think that's correctly explained.

'''Myke:''' It is correctly explained. But you've like gone into a whole different world.

'''Brad:''' Yeah. Yeah. So maybe I should do more like that.

'''Myke:''' On this one page, which is at penaddict.com slash shop, which I recommend people go and check out because there's good stuff here. You have four different ways of talking about collaborations.

'''Brad:''' I clearly care a lot about this topic to that. I want to just exclusively get that right.

'''Myke:''' And then like the actually five because the pencil, you just don't do anything. It just says the pencil, Addict Musgrave Harvest number one wooden pencil. It's just like all of the words, you know? That's descriptive. There's no like, you know, one or the other. It's just this is a one sentence now. You, you, you, you, you, you, you clicked over. You clicked over. You could have not clicked over. You could have not. You prompted me. What did you expect? You know I can't resist. Speaking of prompts, Myke. Speaking of prompts, Myke. There he goes. There he goes.



== Writing Prompts and Focus Modes ==


'''Brad:''' Our next topic. I called this topic writing prompts, but I think as we go through what I want to discuss here, I don't think it's a good title at all. I think it's just kind of like a, that's like a third subheading type of title that I'm, I'm trying to get to. And this is probably, it's very, it's very pen addict related from a doing things and using things relation, not necessarily like a product relationship type of discussion I wanted to have. And I thought you'd be a good compliment to this topic, because I think this is maybe kind of ancillary to some things you and CGP Gray do on Cortex or just, it involves things that we think about a lot, especially I think about it from a working for myself aspect, right? Like just how can I allow myself to be like the most creative that I can be, because that's what I need to get my job done. So one of the things, one of the challenges I've had, and I'm certainly not unique in this, is that my phone is glued to my hand a lot, right? Like it just is. And it could be for work. It could be for play. It could be for distraction. It could be for doom scrolling. It could be all these things, right? So I'm trying to figure out a way to make my phone home screen more conducive to like a good headspace. Because having a good headspace will then translate into, hey, writing better or, you know, figuring out podcast topics or thinking about a project I want to create six months from now, right? So it's all the things. Like it's hard to define as this, but, you know, it's just a kind of a slow burn kind of creative thing I'm working on by removing the most time sucking apps for no benefit, right? So- Give me an example. Like, so I moved two apps off my home screen. One of them is Apollo, which is a Reddit client, the great Reddit client, and the other one's Instagram. I love both of those apps. I love what I find in those apps. When I open those apps, the tendency is to do it mindlessly and without reason. And then 30 minutes go by and I feel worse when I'm done because I regretted the time I spent doing nothing. Okay. Now, working for yourself, you have to be allowed, you have to allow yourself to do nothing, right? We cannot work all the time. That's one of the challenges that I have, you know, working from home at my house. You're always around work. And whether you do it or not, sometimes you just think about it a lot. And I want to not think about it sometimes. Like you just have to. You have to allow yourself. So what I've done is, you know, since my habit is to pick up my phone and, you know, open up Reddit and look at the news. Now, even though it's on my second screen and it's still easy to access, well, now I've put the Kindle app and I can go and read three pages of a book if I have 10 minutes to spare or five minutes to spare. Why don't I, won't I get more benefit from doing that? I've also added a game on my home screen, which never happens for me. Like I don't play games on my phone very much, but I've added NotWords, which is the famous Zach Gage puzzle game creator for iOS's new games, NotWords. It's a very thought-provoking, you know, word game, you know, kind of part Sudoku, part crossword that really kind of checks all my boxes. I've tried to use these new types of apps to kind of free myself up to be more creative. So I've added in day one, which I haven't used day one in years. But you know what goes in day one for me right now is like the small little notes that I want to make that, you know, I'm not going to put on Twitter or the image I'm not going to put on Instagram. But I've had this thought and the thought needs to come out of my brain into a place. So I stopped thinking about the thought and it's like, hey, you know, look at this funny picture of Toby or hey, I played pickleball well last night. And these little things instead of like, you know, chewing on them over and over again. Oh, should I send this picture to my wife? It looks funny. You know, just put it in the day one app and just move on. Like because I'm going to do it. Like I'm not telling myself not to do anything that I don't already do. I'm just trying to do those things better. So, you know, I've added glue on to my home screen, which is a microblog reader, right? You can use the microblog app. I've been messing around with glue on and I don't post a ton on microblog, but I like reading that, you know, instead of opening Reddit or opening Instagram. That's on my home screen.

'''Brad:''' I've added not on my home screen. I added the Merriam-Webster dictionary app. I added that because I want to get better at writing, even if I'm never going to be like, you know, a journalist type of writer. Like I want to, you know, put my thoughts together better. So what I've done is gone into that app and learn about the word of the day. And then I'll take the word of the day, write it down in my everything notebook, like my comment, the notebook I use, what most people would say, like a commonplace notebook. And then I'll write like an entire page of just like rambling, you know, not really any coherent, but more like poetry lyrics type of things just flowing off of the word of the day. Right. Just trying to build these better creative habits to further, you know, things down the line when I have to like actually like sit down and work like these habits are building up better. Just kind of like my my my kind of invisible habits to where when it is time to to do something that I need to do. It's a little bit easier and maybe even a little bit better because I'm like I'm having better input. Right. So I hopefully create better output. That's kind of the thing I'm thinking about. So I am sure you've you've thought about this or have have some some commentary on it, but it's it's a good collaborative way to use my digital tools to help benefit all of the analog work that I do. Like that's this is kind of my thoughts behind it. And I don't have it much fleshed out much more than that. But and it's only been a few weeks where I've decided, hey, like my inputs need to be better. So let's cut out some of some of these things, the mindless stuff for something that actually might make me a better human being or do my job better or, you know, be more creative, things like that. So that's my thoughts. Any thoughts from you?

'''Myke:''' So Kate mentioned in the discord and I agree that focus modes might be an interesting thing for you to look into, which is like, you know, you can set up your phone to be able to let you see certain apps during times of day. And or allow for certain contacts to get through a different time today. So you can do that kind of stuff. It take a while to set those up, though, which is the problem. They can be pretty tricky to set up, but could be kind of interesting for you. Yeah, I got nothing but time. Lock off a bunch of applications or like give you certain home screens that you craft at different times of the day. Oh, nice. Kind of cool for that. You can't. I would I would one thing I would query with you or just like just intrigued to see what your thoughts are around it is that Instagram. That's kind of part of your your job, right? Yeah.

'''Brad:''' Yeah. I can talk specifically about that. So I want to I want to do it purposefully. Right. So if I'm choosing to spend time on Instagram, I want to either post something or say, hey, I'm going to take 10 or 15 minutes to scroll through my feed and learn something about, you know, a new product, how someone is using something. You know, some issues someone might be having with a certain product that they're sharing, that type of thing. So, yeah, it it it is. But there are kind of different, you know, operating modes I can use it for.

'''Myke:''' Like there's a more posting, less consuming, I guess. Yeah. Is a part of it, right?

'''Brad:''' Like consuming is fine. Like I have to consume some of it because it's informational for my job or informational for my enjoyment. Right. Let's not, you know, those both of those things can exist at the same time. Right. Like I can be, hey, I need to look at this. So I'm more informed for my job or, hey, I need to look at this because I enjoy it and it makes me feel good. And, you know, I like it, but I just want to do it purposefully. Right. I don't want it to be on my I don't want it to be like my thumb just hovering over these just manically, maniacally clicking these things because I have 10 minutes to to sit down and do nothing. And I'm going to click on it for no reason other than to just like see how fast I can scroll.

'''Myke:''' OK. Yeah, no, I think that that's a pretty good idea. I would be keen to know how this works out for you because I know I've always I've done these kinds of things myself over time. Right. Yeah. Sure. And some of the problems. So like, for example, I removed Twitter from my iPhone home screen a long time ago in an effort to do a similar kind of thing to what you're talking about. Right. Right. Right. But what I've ended up finding is that while I so I did the thing of like initially like, oh, it's not there. So like I'm opening some other app or whatever. Right. So I'm opening some other app now and I'm going to see how that affects me or not. Or like where, you know, I was in like drafts for a while. I was writing some thoughts down like instead. But then what I noticed I was doing and what I do now is I have a muscle memory to go to the search screen of my iPhone and tap the Twitter icon instead. So like ultimately I've just gotten to it in a new way. Right. Right. So I'll be keen to know.

'''Myke:''' I'll be keen to know what that ends up looking like for you too. Right. Because I just. You know.

'''Brad:''' I've definitely thought about that aspect because in the past I would just delete apps and that does not work for me. Right. Like sometimes like I want something on Reddit. Like if I want to like find like a current news headline. Right. Like I don't consume news from any other source. Like I don't use Reddit to go read like the Reddit comments. I use it to like, hey, show me like the links that are important and I'll choose what to go to go read and inform myself about.

'''Myke:''' Mm hmm.

'''Brad:''' So, yeah. Like deleting that just makes me what you know, when I have say downtime to do whatever I want to go search out other things that just make me more annoyed. So deleting apps has never worked for me. Moving them off like the home screen. I don't know if it's going to work for me. I mean, I still use those apps, but I use them less just as a as a default boredom trigger. Right. That's what I want. I want to I want to be bored better, I think, is what it boils down to, because I have to allow myself lots of hours of being bored every day and being on my own. And how do I choose to use that time? Do I use it to read, write, watch TV, you know, play a game? Those types of things. Right. That's a lot of hours a day I have where I don't want to be thinking about work. But, you know, I'm just thinking about how those things just kind of like affect other things like in the long term, kind of like the long tail of doing the right thing today to have a better type of tomorrow. So.

'''Myke:''' Kate has sent a link to a very interesting app called OneSec, like OneSec. OneSecond. OneSecond. And it uses that you have. I haven't used this, but I assume you have to do some work to get it set up with like shortcuts, automations and stuff. OK. But the idea is then when you tap on the app, it would like say you tapped on Instagram, it would open this application first and be like, hey, do you want to really want to do this? Gotcha. And then and if you say, yeah, take you out to it. But OK, that's kind of interesting. Thank you for this recommendation. I'm going to take a look at this. Yeah.

'''Brad:''' And like I'm totally down for all the technology tools. Like I like the tools and things. Right. Right. Right.

'''Myke:''' I will say focus modes that Apple put into iOS 15 is definitely a start. And I hope there is a rumor that they're going to keep pushing on it. I reckon you should have a look at this. OK. Yeah, I've never used them. It could be kind of it could be kind of interesting if you're willing to put in the setup time.

'''Myke:''' I use it for a few things. And like, for example, when if I'm ever in. Well, whenever I'm in the work, like a workout. My phone is completely locked down. No one can get to me for that time period. Like just nobody can get through. Doesn't matter. It's just you have to wait until I'm done. And I've also used it to build some like special home screens that I can activate and deactivate whenever I want. So there's some stuff in there. Like, OK, you should take a look at it.

'''Brad:''' Yeah, I will. I think that would be beneficial for what I'm trying to to to think about. You know, this this version is would this be the the Cortex X Pen Addict crossover or is this the Pen Addict X Cortex crossover?

'''Myke:''' Let me think about this. I'm pretty sure it's this would be Cortex by Pen Addict.

'''Brad:''' OK, because this is not something we talk about a lot, but it directly impacts my work, my creativity, my analog life. And those are like three things I want to improve. One of the things I think about these type of tools.

'''Myke:''' Interesting about you is how many distinct places you write things down.

'''Brad:''' Yeah. Yeah. Like I'm laughing because I when you did that, I looked around my desk. I was like, that's a lot.

'''Myke:''' It's really interesting because like you said, you like use day one. Yeah. I just started. I'm not trying to like like roast you here or anything, but like. Oh, please. Don't you have like three journals? Like, why could it? Why could these thoughts not go in one of your journals?

'''Brad:''' Like because it's not glued to my hand in the carpool line. Right.

'''Brad:''' It's not sitting in the passenger seat. Like driving to dinner. It's the instant capture. When no one's talking. And yeah. Yeah. Like I in day one, I don't know that I've written anything over two sentences yet.

'''Myke:''' Yeah, sure.

'''Brad:''' But in my journal, I do that all the time.

'''Myke:''' Yeah.

'''Brad:''' So, yeah, it's like, let me clear this out real. I think this is interesting. Let me clear this out real quick. And that's the quickest way to capture that. For sure. So like on my home screen, like I also have taught and I also have drafts. My word is wrong. And I also have Ulysses where my long form stuff goes.

'''Myke:''' Wait, you have on your home screen five writing apps?

'''Brad:''' Let me pull this up.

'''Myke:''' That's like even by my levels, that's bad.

'''Brad:''' I have Ulysses taught drafts day one.

'''Myke:''' Wow.



== Digital Tools and Organization ==


'''Brad:''' I don't use taught daily, but it's a good organization tool. I use drafts more than taught. I don't use Ulysses on my phone all the time, right? Because I'm usually writing on my iPad or my laptop. And then day one, I've only installed the app on my phone. I'm not installing it on my iPad and I'm not accessing it on my laptop.

'''Myke:''' Okay.

'''Brad:''' So this is a phone issue for me that I'm trying to manage.

'''Myke:''' Yeah. You know, I've been thinking.

'''Brad:''' Like I don't technically need Ulysses on my phone, but I have written articles there or I have read stuff there. Like it doesn't necessarily need to be there. I could do without it because I write. Those are the things I write on the iPad or my laptop, but it's on my phone because sometimes I need to do things or read things. Or if I get an idea for an article, I will write just like, you know, a couple hundred words just sitting there on my phone. But I don't. That's not the norm. I could do without that.

'''Myke:''' Okay. Yeah. This is interesting. You know, like, hello, I'm here to tell you about the eternal struggle. I've been really like rolling around in my brain recently. Like this kind of stuff as well. Like is my, it's like this constant like attachment to the internet. Like, is it good for me? Especially when the news is so bleak.

'''Brad:''' Right. You know? Right. So here's, here's the realization. This is all happened because I feel like I'm in a really good place right now. This is not coming out of a place of desperation. This is coming out of a place like ever since my vacation at the beginning of April, I've been kind of re-energized into taking more control of just like my day-to-day mental health. Good. And that involves work. And that involves play. Yeah. And that involves entertainment. And that involves chores and things like that. Like I, I, this is, this is not coming out. This kind of reworking of how I think about things is not coming out from a desperate place. I think that's when you're able to make- A positive to even more positive.

'''Myke:''' The most lasting change. Like I think, I think that if you are making it with a clear mind as opposed to like a freaking out mind. Yeah. I feel like that's when you're more likely to come up with something that can last because it's not like, help me fix this thing immediately because I can't handle it anymore.

'''Brad:''' I probably should have led with that bit of information. Like I'm coming at this from like a good place and a place that I understand could be better. Yeah. Like I am content and let's nail down some other things too. Right.

'''Myke:''' Yeah. Like we're all dealing, I mean, I'm dealing with some stuff right now. Oh my God. Right. Like it's just, things are just hard. But like, you know, my, my year theme structure, right. Has, has really, one of the, one of the biggest things, spoilers, you know, I'm going to talk about this later on, on Cortex, but like one of the biggest things that I've benefited from this year is trying to be a little bit more intentional. This is a word that comes up on Cortex so much, but like being a little bit more intentional about my free time. Right. And intentional in the sense of not, it comes into two ways. Part of it is how I'm spending it. But the other part is being aware when I am doing something for fun. Like really like noticing that. And that is definitely making my life better. Of being like, Hey, you did this thing today. You were able to do that. That's really, that means you have managed your time. You know, like I met a friend for brunch today and I'm still going to get all of my stuff done for the day. And it's like, that's really good. Like where previously I may have looked at that of like, Oh man, I'm going to be pressed for time. Like, you know, I would be like, am I allowed to do that? Yeah, exactly.

'''Brad:''' That's the way I would think of it.

'''Myke:''' Well, like this year I have played so many, I'm playing so many video games and that's because like one, I want to, and two, like I'm making time for it. So like there could be a time in the day, right? Where I'm like, I have an hour until whatever show. I can noodle around on my computer for an hour or I can play a video game. And I feel so much better when I choose video game. Right. Because it's like, well, I can spend an hour like poking around like the 24 seven doom machine. Right. Right. Right. Or I can, can go and play something that is fun.

'''Brad:''' Yep. Mine has been a television watching. Like I've never been a big television watcher, but I'll just go from series to series to series. Like discovering things.

'''Myke:''' I saw that you started Severance. Oh my God. Even though you called it Severed on Twitter, which made me chuckle. But when you're done with Severance, We Crashed is excellent. It's another Apple TV thing. I recommend that. So.

'''Brad:''' Yeah. So I'll do like one at a time. I've never been like a serial TV watcher ever, ever. And now I've kind of like over the past year, I've kind of had like, okay, I'm going to catch up on all these things that I've missed, but like one series at a time. So that's been, that's been good for me.

'''Myke:''' Man. Talk about a show to make you rethink your work life though. Am I right?

'''Brad:''' Two episodes left and I can't get to them fast enough. Oh buddy.

'''Myke:''' Those two episodes are a frigging ride too. Oh man. Let me tell you right now, Brad, whenever you start episode six, make sure you've planned that you will have time for episode seven.

'''Brad:''' Um, I, I did. So I've done six and seven. Now I'm going to do eight and nine.

'''Myke:''' Oh, that's what I mean then. Eight and nine. So when you get to those last two. Do eight and nine together? Yeah.

'''Brad:''' I usually watch two at a time. Yeah.

'''Myke:''' Good. Cause you won't be able to not. Okay. That's what I'm saying. Like you're going to be in a situation where you, to, to not be able to press play immediately is going to hurt. Cause that's what me and Adina did. Like we didn't want, we, we didn't plan it outright. It was bad. It was just too late. It was like one of those times where it's like, we can watch this now, but it's too late. Like it's in the evening. So we went to bed and like, yeah, I will say that severance is a show that I wished I would have seen. I would have started watching it week to week because it's one of those shows. Like you really have to think about it. Like not, wait, that's, that's not what, if you think about it, I bet it's better. You know, like if you spend the whole week, like theorizing, I bet that was such a good feeling, but we came to a point where we could binge it and we just did. We just couldn't help ourselves.

'''Brad:''' Yeah. All right. I think we should conclude this episode of the, the Cortex Panatic crossover. I know.

'''Myke:''' We got like three quarters, what you'd expect, you know? And then there was a little bit that you weren't.

'''Brad:''' Like, I like to talk about this every now and then, you know, there's, there's no, there's no rhyme or reason. There's no schedule to this, but you know, every year or two we talk about like, I think people like to talk us like us to talk about making things. Well, I can't make things unless I work on myself and do these things that we're just talking about. And it doesn't necessarily involve analog tools and pens and paper, but it makes those things better. And sometimes I have to allow myself to get there. And I think it's good to just discuss that every once in a blue moon. And even though we now need to like, oh, our listeners a full ass TPA episode because they just keep piling up because we never get to.

'''Myke:''' Send in your questions. Hashtag ask TPA on Twitter, question mark ask TPA in the Relay FM members discord. The member special is coming up pretty soon.

'''Brad:''' We're recording next week. We're recording next week. It's going to launch next week, but we're recording next week.

'''Myke:''' Don't say it might. I need to, I might, I might have a tweak. So next week we're recording it. We'll let you know when we're going to post it. So it will be probably this month. It will be in May. It will be in May. Just, it may be next week or the week after we're going to do our. Yes. So that's our schedule special.

'''Myke:''' So if you're a Relay FM member supporting any show, you will get access to that bonus. This one's going to be fun. Check it out.

'''Brad:''' There's going to be a lot of conversation. We're going to, this one's going to be opened up to a lot of conversation between us two. I have a feeling.

'''Myke:''' I think you're right. Actually, it could be a bit of a chitty chatty one because the set isn't that. Big this time. Right. We're not going to do what I did last time. Because we're not crazy. Well, last time your boy messed up, didn't he? We have made mistakes. Mistakes were made and they have been rectified for this set. We're doing that next week, but you check it out. Go Relay.fm. Membership. Support shows that you love and you'll get some wonderful bonus content. You can also email AskTPAQuestions to hello at penaddict.com. Then you can go to penaddict.com. You can check out Brad's great writing along with many wonderful contributors. There's also a store there with some questionable naming but wonderful products. Every product's great, but some of them are named weirdly. You know, what can I say? You can also find Brad at SpokeDesign.com where everything's named perfectly. You can go to penaddict on Instagram, dowdyism on Twitter. You can find me. I'm at imike, I-M-Y-K-E. You can go to cortexmerch.com and find perfectly named products through and through. Consistent branding, you know?

'''Brad:''' I mean, when there's only one product.

'''Myke:''' That's an abject lie. We have, how many products do we currently have for sale? Five. At least three. Five. That's a good number. Subtle notebook, the theme system journal, the original tee, the original hoodie, the original pin. See that? Consistency. Nice, nice, nice. I like it. I like it. So yeah, go check those out. Thank you to the penchalet. Hey, you're welcome. I thought you were going to look. Thank you to the Ron at the penchalet for supporting this episode. Thank you, the Ron. Thank you all for listening. We'll be back next time. Until then, say goodbye, Brad.

'''Brad:''' Goodbye, Brad.

[[Category:Podcast Transcripts]]
[[Category:The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript]]