Editing The Pen Addict 200/transcript (section)

== Pen Show Shopping ==


'''Brad:''' Yeah, yeah. So I'm going to brag on just your pen show shopping for a second. So we talked last year when you came. What are your pen show 101? How you should handle yourself when you show up? And you blew that completely out the water within the five minutes of the pen show opening. You ran around like, ah, I got a new pen. Just running around. Sorry. Sorry. Yeah. So he's like, Myke would vanish. Then we'd come back and go, look what I got. And then he'd vanish again. He'd go, look what I got. You've been very like paced this year.

'''Myke:''' I've bought two things. Yeah. So. Well, one of them was pretty quick, but I'd arranged it beforehand. Yeah. So I think that gives me an out. Yeah. I did buy a retro 51 within like 15 minutes of being there. That's true.

'''Brad:''' That's a given, I guess. Yeah.

'''Myke:''' There was one that I like to look off the Anderson table and I was like, ah, I'll take that one. Yeah. But yeah. So great question. So thank you very much.

'''Myke:''' Oh, now look. There's like a line forming now. Congratulations. Line up. Just line up.

'''Matt:''' So you get a space. My name is Matt. So I've recently found your podcast. I'm one of the guys who found the Apple podcast and then came to pen addict. And one thing interesting for me is I've used pens all my life. Never really thought about them. They're just tools. Then I got a fountain pen after listening to you guys. Then I went back to the beginning of your, not all of them, probably like 10. The first 10. Something interesting for me is now I'm actually paying attention to the normal pens that I use. Like, you know, Brad, you often refer to the jet streams and stuff. And it's, it's, it is interesting. It's sort of, you know, this little world that's opening up like, oh, I actually enjoy writing with this pen. So what I was thinking about for you guys, you referenced at the beginning of the podcast, you guys either didn't use or didn't like fountain pens. So how has, how has your view of, you started the pen addict when you didn't even like fountain pens. So how does, how has y'all's view of pens changed since 2012?

'''Brad:''' It's mind boggling how little I still know about pens. And I think that's what's changed the most is I've learned so much and then only come to realize I know very little still. So having people around us that are more experienced and do these things and can answer questions that you can lean on these people in this community to help you out when you have the most absolutely simple, basic question. And learn so much from each individual person's different perspective than what I have. Like, you know, I have a particular set of things that I look for in a pen. Well, that doesn't necessarily make it a good pen for you or for anyone else in the room. So being able to leverage like the group knowledge of everyone has been like really important for me in like just growing myself and learning and then be able to talk to someone else who's like brand new. Hey, I just started this. Here's how I write. Here's what I'm looking for. And then like to just appreciate every little thing, you know, about stationary. You don't have to buy $300 pens to have a great experience. You know, you buy a $3 pen and write on any any piece of paper that you can find and you're just set. So, you know, it's seeing kind of that. Community being so available and so approachable that. Change kind of how I think about things and change. How about how I think about doing things in the future, too.

'''Ana Reinert:''' So I completely agree. And I think that the opportunity that that everything from a roller rollerball or gel pen can create just as great an experience for what you need to do. If you're just taking notes at work or anything like that to a fountain pen, that's $100, $200, $500. And having all of those opportunities to have a great writing experience and having people here that can tell you I was listening to somebody today talk about, you know, this was the original ballpoint pen, you know. And, you know, here's they're telling the story about how that came to be. And, you know, no, these didn't work great. But this is where it started. This was how they were trying to figure out how you could have something that you could put in your pocket and not worry about leaking. Okay, well, this one did leak. But they were working on it. But, you know, and having that great history and, you know, how they tried to figure this stuff out and eventually figure out how to make these inks that actually didn't leak. And, you know, the balls in the rollers that kept the ink in there and flowed properly and all this kind of stuff. It's really cool. It's just, you know, and these people have all that knowledge and all that history and being able to sort of learn from other people.

'''Myke:''' So, fun. I think getting into fountain pens ended up giving me a greater understanding and appreciation of what I enjoy in pens. So, like, the thing that I use the most these days is a rotary mechanical pencil. Like, that is the thing that I use to write the most. And there are reasons for that. Like, because it's better for me to use something that I'm not clicking or uncapping when I'm recording. Because, like, you'll see me doing it. Like, I'm taking notes as we go. It's the quietest way for me to do it. Because the pencil can just remain uncapped all the time. It's easier for me to do that. And it's quieter when I use it. It doesn't really make as many sounds because it can be picked up in the microphone. But I've found a mechanical pencil that I adore. Like, I used my Rotaring Lava one because I love the design of it. Fountain pens taught me more about the design in pens that I enjoy. They taught me more about weight and balance. Because they tend to be on a higher scale. So, when I then started to understand what I liked about that, I could apply it to things that are more simple. But that I could still appreciate. Like, I used Rotarings before I got really big into fountain pens and didn't like them so much. And I have a regular Rotaring 500 at home as well that I really love to use and was using a bit last week. So, getting into fountain pens seemed to give me just a better understanding of what I like and don't like. And what I then can appreciate when looking at other things. And I like that stuff more now than I did four years ago.

'''Brad:''' I still get really excited about an awesome gel ink pen. I mean, like, I smile. I mean, I'm sitting there looking silly at my desk. No one else around. And I'll be using just whatever random fountain pens I'm using at the time. And I break out a gel ink pen. I was like, oh, man. I missed you, buddy. And this is, like, a really cool. This is, like, a really great experience. It happens all the time. Yep. Great question.

'''Myke:''' Another question?

'''Myke Hurley:''' Dave. All right. Sure. Hi. It's Dave. So, I'm curious. You know, Myke talked a little bit about wanting to grow the audience next year and have more people in here sitting and more people standing. And so, for everybody who might be listening at home and might be on the fence about buying that plane ticket or getting in the car and driving a few hours next year, like, what is each of your number one reason to come to the pen show? Anna?

'''Ana Reinert:''' Actually, the opportunity to get to hang out with my friends, meet new friends, meet vendors who can make me more knowledgeable about new products and older vintage products, the opportunity to actually hold in my hands things that I only ever get to see online, the Van Ness ink testing station, where I got to actually sit for a half an hour and try out, like, 20 different bung box inks. I mean, these are things that you can't really do online that can either, that can inform whether or not you spend the money on something that's very, either very expensive or very inexpensive. Getting to see all of these things, hold them in your hand, talk to the people who sell them, get a nib tuned, get a custom grind. These are all things that you can do in person that, yes, you can do them online, and you can do them through email, and you can mail, you know, something to someone and have a nib tuned, but it's not the same experience as actually sitting with someone and handing them the pen, have them tune the nib, try it, nope, not quite right, hand it back, let's try it again, you know, and work, really work with somebody. I mean, these are opportunities that are so, so, so great, and then just getting to meet people and talk pens and sit around and kind of nerd out with other people who get really excited about this stuff. This is like, you know, my husband's teased me for weeks. This is the three days in which I'm probably the most extroverted I am compared with the other 362 days out of the year. The rest of the time I stay in my house, in my room, on my computer, and then for three days I talk to people and hang out and stay up until two in the morning. We love Godot!

'''Matt:''' Wait.

'''Brad:''' So, for someone who's never been to a pen show, you don't come for the pens or the purchases or the inks. You come for the smiles and hugs, and everyone knows me, I'm a hugger, and it's just like Ana was talking about. Getting to meet these people that you talk to online, even if you've never talked to them at all before, just being able to see these people, hang out with everyone, you know, hang out at the bar afterwards, sharing stories and pens and paper and being able to talk to everyone. I mean, it's really all about the people. I don't even care, like, much about the business stuff. Like, you know, I'm actually here to work, but that, I'm just, I want to get through the day so I can go hang out with everyone when I'm done, because everyone's rolling by me. They can come see by me. Look what I got, Brad. I'm like, I haven't seen any tables yet. Thanks.

'''Brad:''' But it's good that I can get to live through everybody and everyone going through the show. So that's pretty cool. It's, I mean, it's 100% about the people. I know a bunch of people traveled to this show. I know it's a bunch of people's first show. And even if they just come for the people and for the hanging out, it's going to be so fulfilling and so rewarding. I can't recommend it highly enough to anyone who's even remotely interested in what we're doing to just come and hang out. I mean, that's seriously all you got to do. And you'll have a wonderful time. And the next year, you will be dying to come back, I hope.

'''Myke:''' Yeah. For me, obviously everything they said, but also the ability to try pens. Like, one of the best things here is that ever, like, it's not even a question. Like, you say, what pen did you buy? Oh, this one. And they just give it to you. And then you just get a pad. You just start writing with it because everyone trusts each other that they're not just going to go and just stab it in the desk. So that's one of my very favorite things is that sense of camaraderie of everyone. So I think we have three people waiting for questions. So we'll do these three and then we're going to cut it off because it's really hot in this room. Yeah. It's escalated quickly.

'''Dave:''' And here I was going to ask if I could have an extra question per layover on the way here. Because you were talking about different. I feel like this. Somebody needs to check their tall privilege on this microphone. So you were talking about different ways that people find the podcast and different ways that people come to it. And it got me thinking because I was sort of forced into it. I didn't get to choose which was my first episode.

'''Dave:''' So I was just thinking if you were going to recommend one episode for listeners to get someone else into it, like the first one is free episode to make someone understand why they should listen and why they should care about pens, which episode would you pick?

'''Myke:''' Probably this one, right? Like I'm being serious. Like it's not, I think.

'''Dave:''' So this one's full of inside jokes and high temperatures.

'''Myke:''' Well, that's what we're best known for. Well, the problem is getting into this show, and this is something we've been talking about a bunch, right? About how do we give a new starting point. And we're working on that for some point next. That's going to be mine and Brad's next kind of little mini project. It's working on a new starting point for people because we realized that there's 200 of these now. The issue coming into this show at any point is even if it's not inside jokes, it's just the accumulated knowledge of 200 episodes. So me and Brad refer to terms now like they're second nature that people might not know. And that's always an issue with anything that has lasted for as long as this has. Is jumping in anywhere is always going to be difficult. So I think why I think this one might be a fun one to start off with is because it's kind of different and it's got a different vibe to it. And we're having a bit more fun with it and it's a bit more lighthearted than usual, I think. But going forward, I think it's an important thing for us that we need to recreate and create something that becomes that and work better at trying to make the Panatic podcast a better resource for people.

'''Brad:''' And for me, it might be kind of a cliched answer, but I honestly think number one would be the best. And I never thought I would say that until Myke forced me to listen to it. About three or four weeks ago.

'''Myke:''' It's only the best if you're going to then listen to the whole thing, which is a good thing to do because you get all of the knowledge that we've got over the last four years. But it's a daunting task.

'''Brad:''' Yeah. But I thought like as nervous as I sounded and as, you know, sketchy as the whole thing was that we're doing a podcast about pins. Massively different. Yeah. For someone that's coming from like zero and has like a Bic or a Jetstream or all of a sudden they found a gel pen that they want. They can go, oh, there's more stuff to like learn out there. And then maybe I'll pick up some of these other episodes later. But I was episode one still holds up in a very strange kind of way, which I didn't think I would say until you made me listen to it again.

'''Myke:''' That's a good question.

'''Dave:''' And I can recommend the method. Get someone in a car, drive all the way up the West Coast, control the phone and explain all the in-jokes to you. Yeah. I like that. Just like hypothetically recommendations.

'''Myke:''' We can get that as a service, right? We can find people. We'll hire someone. Doug, you'll do that, right? Oh, yeah. Okay. Doug, what's your question? So what's your most exotic nib grind and what do you like about it? Anna?

'''Ana Reinert:''' I actually don't have any exotic nib grinds yet. I would at some point like to get an architect grind, but I haven't done it yet. Only thing I've had done so far was last year I had Myke Masayamo do two tunings for me. Just because I'm left-handed, I wanted to have some edges just touched up a little bit. I had an italic and I had him round the edges just a little bit and a fine that I just had him buff out a little bit. That's it.

'''Brad:''' For me, it's a recent one. I think architect type grinds would probably be a lot of our common theme, but I actually bought a pen recently with Zoom nib, which is a sailor nib, and it ended up, I didn't know if I would like it or not. It turns out I really disliked it because it writes like a marker.

'''Myke:''' I'd really like that. Yeah.

'''Brad:''' So my friend Mark Bacchus, I gave it to him. I said, just do something with this. Because it's just like a huge block of tipping on there. So I'm pretty sure someone who knows how to work on nibs could do something cool with this just massive workspace. So he did an architect grind, but the tipping on the pen is so big, the back end of the architect grind looks like a fish hook. So it's like the biggest, baddest architect grind you've ever seen in your life. And I brought it with me. So anyone who wants to see that, it's like you hold it up and you can see like you could tie it to a fishing line and go fishing with this thing. It's pretty, it's stupid in all the right ways.

'''Myke:''' Brad showed me this and whilst he wasn't looking, I turned a page of a notebook with it. Yeah.

'''Myke:''' Yeah. I hooked it right in under there and turned it over. Yeah. I don't have anything really. Mine is just like a cursive italic, which is like, everyone's like, that's, that's the most I have. Uh, cause I'm still a little bit scared of, of getting these things done. Cause as well, like most of the pens that I would want to have something like that done to, I already really like. So I've only ever had these grinds done on pens that I don't like. Right. Like, so like I know they need to be changed in some way. So I have the work done. Um, I should probably just buy something and have it for that purpose, but I haven't done that yet. Thank you, Doug.

'''Brad:''' Thanks, Doug.