Scribe

Extra floppy, just like you like them. Hello and welcome to Erasable. This is episode 40 of the erasable podcast, and I guess it's episode 40. I've been sitting around for a while. I keep waiting around for these calls to start and then these guys bail on me. And so I don't really know what's going on, but episodes keep coming out. It's kind of baffling, but. But here we are, episode 40. I'm glad to be back, and I'm glad to be joined by my buddies, Johnny and Andy. Guys, how's it going?

I mean, it's probably what I deserve after dealing with, you know, the plague and toddlers and stuff. Yeah, yeah, it's been madness. So I'm glad to be back. I have missed it quite, quite a bit.

Enjoyed. I've enjoyed listening, but, you know, like, enjoyed in air quotes because it was like, oh, I want to say something which is not a. Not a fun feeling. It's not as fun.

But yeah, I'm glad to be back. Glad to be here. Glad to have good stuff to talk about because I feel like we have a lot of good stuff going on.

Yeah. Let's jump right into it. Hey, Andy, what are you drinking and what are you writing with?

right there.

Like tall boy, like 24 ounces or

All right.

It's like their cult 45.

I don't think so.

Double fist in there.

That stuff is so good.

Yeah, the Kroger by us decided like four weeks before Thanksgiving actually came to start selling the pounds for like seven bucks a piece.

Yeah, because they're like we've got our Christmas stuff ready so we bought like £4 of it.

That's a personal question? Yeah.

Yeah.

No, I just. It stays pretty cool here. I keep them like kind of tucked away in our garage like somewhere where it doesn't get hot. But I've heard that you shouldn't freeze them. But yeah, I don't know where I heard that. If it was like from there's less on the chat.

Topher says do not freeze beans.

Well, I am. I'm drinking. It's funny like I've missed twice because of being of being sick and family being sick and just like stuff being going on and then like no kidding. This morning I got sick again and so I'm combating I'm combating it with everything I've got, which means everything is Evan Williams white label. That's all I've got. So I am just drinking some. Some Evan Williams white over ice.

Yeah, it's delicious. And I'm riding with one of my Franken 211s that I made when I was waiting for my two 11's to show up. And this is the renew with the Blackwing eraser. Blackwing Ferrule with the black eraser on the back of it. So I'm working through those still just to make my 2 on ones last even longer.

What is?

Nice knowing you, Johnny.

Yeah, that's right.

As much as I love them, I mean, I dig them quite a bit. I like using them. I've been using them a lot. But I do find myself, oddly enough, grabbing just 602 more lately. Maybe it's because I'm trying to make them last as long as possible. I don't know.

Yay. Excited about that. Thanks, Andy.

Oh, yeah, I think I saw that.

Well, how about FreshPoints? Andy?

What's on your mind? Tell us how you're doing.

And how many are we at, did you say?

Andy.

Bring it back.

Guess you're working late tonight.

which is important, naturally.

It was bad 60s television.

It's.

So cool.

Ear muffs, Johnny. Earmuffs.

Yeah, it's the retro 51 refill, but like a finer point than I think than the retro usually comes with.

I don't know. I guess we've got some people who know in the chat, It's.

So.

Yeah, I'm trying to hold on until I actually have the money to buy it.

Like, I wouldn't do it right now, but I might have to wait until it comes out like. Like wider release, I guess, when they're just selling it on the website or something. But it looks awesome. It looks really great.

What?

Oh, gosh. That's like, here goes the, like 35th podcast in overcast for me right now. Yeah, yeah, I'm gonna add it right now. That sounds awesome.

Subscribed. That sounds awesome.

Do you need it today? That's my favorite question.

What?

Harv U R D. No, they're actually Harvard. Harvard.

That's awesome.

That's dedication right there.

Shaming.

Well, I was gonna start by talking about some awesome budget paper stuff that I came across that we had talked about briefly before. And I was in Atlanta like a month ago, I guess before the first episode that I missed like a week before that. And I went to a shop called Binders. You ever been to a Binders?

I don't know if it's a. Yeah. If it's a big chain or not, but there's two in Atlanta and I went to one and when it kind of wandered around, they didn't have a whole lot to speak of with pencils. I picked up a couple Faber Castell 9,000, the bees like Johnny likes and two Bs, which I just not using them, they're not really my thing. But anyways, I was looking at the paper and the one thing I found that I had never seen before was the Claire Fontaine makes a spiral notebook. And it's a real high quality paper.

Three sheets? No, there's like 300. It's huge.

Yeah, it's like an inch thick. It's enormous. And I got it there. It was like 12 bucks there. It's like pretty excited. And it's, it's nice smooth Claire Fontaine paper. It has a sort of hokey looking cover, but I don't really care and been using it a whole bunch came home and I mean, you can get them on. I mean, I know Amazon's not favorite place, but if you can't get to an actual physical place to get one. Amazon sells these notebooks for like $8. So they're solid.

Yeah, I mean it was 12 at binders and I was happy about that too, just because it's really nice paper. But that was the first one. The other one is we had talked about a long time ago, Amazon Basics, the that Amazon is making their own legal pads now.

down in the bathtub, as long as it's not in the water. Yeah. Well, I ordered a pack of the, the white legal pads and they were. You get a dozen. It was like a dozen for ten bucks and now they're on sale or it's a dozen for like seven bucks. But they're so many. They're really nice. If you're looking for legal pads, if you like legal pads like I do, I think it's six bucks for the white ones and seven bucks for the canary yellow and really smooth paper. It's actually very nice. I was very surprised. I'll send you guys one because I have so many. I'll send you one at some point. The only beef I have with it is the cardboard backing is kind of floppy. It's not very thick. So I mean, so you can't, you can't. Floppy, floppy, floppy.

Floppy Joes.

extra floppy, just like you like them. You can't like hold it in your lap and write with it is the only thing, just because it's. It's real flimsy. But they're great.

Oh, yeah, they're standard. Standard size legal pad. And I put them on this clipboard. Yeah, I mean, it's. And they're. They're awesome. So I'm actually gonna order some of the yellow ones as well just to have around as part of my Steinbeck obsession as I continue to read stuff.

He read a letter the other day where he was mentioning getting ready to write east of Eden. And there's that. That line where he's talking about, I'll be filling up a lot of those yellow pads, something like that. So those are great. So those are something. If you're looking for something that's a little, you know, the Clairefontaine notebook is big. It's like eight and a half by 11 or big size. Good amount of paper. Nice paper spiral and doesn't have a margin at the top. It's just flush to the top of the line. So you get. You can use the whole page, which is really nice. So there'll be links to both of those in the show notes if you want to check them out. The other thing I was gonna talk about is have you guys. I'm sure you have, at some point, have you come across the essay eye pencil? Have you seen this?

Okay, so Johnny, do you know this? Have you seen it?

Okay. Yeah, so, I mean, I hadn't either. I hadn't seen a really long time. Just kind of found it totally at random today. I don't even remember how I ended up there, but I was just on a Google trail on my planning period while I was eating lunch and ended up at I Pencil, which I Pencil is basically this essay that was written, I think it was the 50s, something where they use a pencil and everything that goes into making a pencil to describe basically why capitalism is so great or why the. Really why the free market is so great is what they're. What they're.

The ferrule is a combination of these metals and These come over here and. Yeah, the. No.

Yeah, yeah, exactly. And it even goes into like, that's like the kind of clear part where all these parts of the pencil come from all over the place and they're even processed in different places and they come together. But then there's even. It talks about the, the lumberjack who's cutting down the, the tree. Like also the, the waitress at the restaurant that he's eating his food at is like part of the process because she's giving him fuel. Like, it like goes like all the way back

Exactly.

But this is kind of an interesting. I don't know if you want to call it a thought exercise to kind of follow that whole trail, but you could do that with anything. Right? I think the reason they picked the pencil is because if you did, I mean, just for the sake of argument, like, if you pick the pen, somebody would look at that and be like, well, obviously that's, you know, all metal or that's like some weird polymer or

Well, they're smelting the, the metal and stuff themselves.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah, they're like shaping the, the, the refills and pouring that, Pouring the ink one at a time into it.

Yeah. So I, Yeah, so it was just something that was like kind of fascinating. You talk about with anything, but with pencils, it's, it's supposed to be so simple. It's one of those things you look at that's like ubiquitous and you see it everywhere. But the fact of the matter of how complicated it is, which we've talked about before, the fact that it's so simple, but it's also absolutely a complicated thing, you know? Yeah, we've talked like kind of. I mean, early on, like, I remember having like very brief conversations about, oh, a Kickstarter where we sold a pencil, we made a pencil. It's like there's no option. Like, even if you wanted to dream big, there's almost no option where you could make one yourself or even like assemble it yourself. Right. I mean. Yeah, it's just totally out of the question, which is kind of amazing.

No, I just saw that in the show notes. I have not seen this Should I, like, watch it live and we'll listen

Yeah, no, I'll have to. I'll definitely watch that.

It's worth a read. And I posted a, like, an animated video that I stumbled across today that was made. It's stupidly called I Pencil the Movie. It's six minutes long. So it's. It's interesting for pencil people for like, one watch, but after it, you'll be like, okay, I've seen that. I don't have to watch it again because it's. It's definitely, like, economics focused, which some people may be more interested than I am, but I was just kind of interested in watching kind of an outsider point of view talk about a pencil as this, like, kind of fascinating thing. So, yeah, check it out if you haven't seen it yet. And there were some, like. Really? Oh, go ahead.

Irobot.

Yeah, right. Pencil. Well, I. The last thing about that, I was gonna say is that one of my favorite things with YouTube videos in general is to just pluck, like, comments out of context. And there are some. There's some pretty good ones for this. Like, one of the first comments I saw was this guy, and I don't know where this came from, but he said, what? No Department of Pencils? How shall we write things down? Who will fight for our right to pencils unless the government guarantees full access to pencil technology? Geez, what's next? No Department of love.

And then he followed up his own comment and just said, in Russia during Soviet times, pencils were called coal. Like, there's no such. Like, there's no such thing as a communist pencil in old country.

Pencil sharpens you.

You.

Oh, right.

Yeah.

Right.

And isn't it, like, if you actually used a pencil in space, it would, like, clog the instruments and, like, the graphite dust.

And how did your pencil. Or how did your spaceship blow up? Well, the astronauts were all pencil podcasters. And they were just really insistent. Yeah. When they finally.

Yeah. Or a cigarette. Right.

when they finally give us our space travel credentials, we'll. We'll see if this is true or not.

Can I be your, like, mission control guy back here?

Can I be the guy who's trying to tell you how to put a square. What is it? A square box in a round hole?

Square peg in a round hole.

That'll be me with the vest. Like an Apollo 13. Well, should we get onto our main topic for today?

Absolutely. All right, we're back.

Three minutes.

Oh,

That's a great way to enter this conversation. So is that you talking about Atlanta? That you're going to dress as Glass Knight?

So I was right when I said that. Right there.

When I said, you're in Atlanta.

sherman and Sherman. Alexi.

Let me know if you hear a dog whining.

Because she seems distraught about something. I don't know what it is.

She's just kind of wandering around the house, making noises, changing weather. Right. We good to go? So, yes. Going right into the main topic.

Good to go. This week marks our 40th episode, which feels big, right? We keep joking about being over the hill.

I said over the hill. What did you say? So this is 40th episode, which feels. It's. It's always amazing to get to those. Those big, like, what do you call.

Whatever. But we're. But we are. Yeah, it's 40 episodes. We get those multiples of 10. Just feels big, which I know is also gets me, like, on my, like, weird, random soapbox about, like, how that's also just kind of funny. That, like, why isn't it, like, 37? Why can't 37 be a big deal instead of 40? But it feels big. And I know from my experience. And this is just kind of an idea we had about the. What we could talk about in this episode is that in my experience, from the first episode of this podcast to now, I realize now that I didn't know the first episode. Like, I didn't know What I was talking about. I tricked you guys into doing this. I didn't know what I was talking about. I didn't know much about pencils, and that's obviously changed. And so my pencil nerdness has changed.

Right, Exactly. Yeah. Which is mostly me asking you questions, like, getting Johnny to, like, recommend stuff for me to buy, but now here we are. So I just thought it'd be kind of a fun conversation to talk about where you were then, which is, you know, over a year ago.

half ago to now. Yeah, man.

Like, oh, you feel like you know less. Like you don't. Literally, like, you're just like, I just know less now.

Yeah.

Yeah. I feel like there's so many people in our group that would be like. Yeah, like you said, like, so much more knowledgeable of a host then than I am, like, a hundred times. Yeah. But they can't do it because I say so. So, you know, this is my show. I'm not gonna let them on.

No. That's one thing we've talked about a lot is this is maybe something to do in our second year, you know, just is we have such an awesome group that at some point we're thinking, you know, we need to start having people from our group on to talk about this, because the conversation can be so rich with these people who know so much about it. It's wild, you know? I mean, when you meet people who've been into this for, I mean, 20 years longer than I have, I mean, it's really cool.

When you get people, right? Exactly.

Well done, Andy. Well done. Well done.

So I don't know how we want to start this out, but I was thinking maybe we could ask our elder statesman to talk about it first.

We have, like, perfect. Like, what is it? We have, like, four years and then five years in between us or something. Or four and four or something.

I'm 28. I'm 28.

How do I turn this tape over?

I just. I'm already at the point where I'm forgetting how old I am. So does that count? It's like, yeah, it's kind of like time travel.

Accidentally young, where I'm just, like, lazy. I'm like, gosh, I'd have to count on my fingers to do this, and I really don't want to do this right now. I am 28. There you go.

I feel like that's a. I feel like that's. That trajectory is pretty. I feel like people in the group would agree and listeners would agree that that trajectory is pretty normal. I think where you, like you get into it from one pencil. Like, for you guys, I think for both of you, was it the black Ticonderoga or something or. No, Johnny, yours was the papermate American. Yeah, that's right. So you, like.

You have this, like, simple entry level, and you're like, wow, this is great. And then. And then you, like, take the. You just go, like, straight up, like, all the way to the top and go for the. You know, like, the black wings and all this, like, the fancy stuff when you really get into it, and then it all kind of balances out and you end up somewhere in the middle, you know? Yeah, I feel like that's pretty. You know, pretty common and probably the way to go, but

Yeah. I find myself attracted to pencils that I. Even after doing this, like, I have trouble in the. The two 11s were an exception to this, but I have trouble paying more than $10 a dozen because, like, you know, we talk all the time about finding your kind of grail pencil, like, your perfect pencil, and I mean, of course I won't. I can't go a whole episode without mentioning the. The Palomino hp. Like, when I found that it was just, like, such a game changer, I was like, I can get these for nine bucks, and these are perfect for me. I love everything about them. They're perfect. And even just to get to a point of kind of knowledge about this stuff where you can pick up a Blackwing or you can pick up a Tombow, like a mono 100, like a nice, real nice pencil, and then say, you know what? No, I want the cheaper one. It's not all about just, like, what's the quote nicest because of, like, how much you pay for it or something like, it. It becomes like, the longer you're into the stuff, the more personal it becomes, where you're like, this fits me, and that's perfect. I love it. And I don't just because I paid this much for it or that much for it. It's like, I mean, whatever. And Swisswood sucks, but.

No, that's just how. You know, that's just my. My overall feeling about this. Just that it's. You spend all this time trying everything out, and then you find something that fits, and it doesn't matter how much it costs or how nice it is or how fancy it is. So, Andy, how have you, like, transformed, evolved over the last year and a half, I.

You remember when I bought that box of Forest Choice pencils? I was all excited about that and gotten to the point now where, I mean, I'm throwing those things out at school, like, everywhere. I'm like, go, go, take. Go forth. Take them, go forth. And.

Yeah. Well, thanks. We've been so nice to you tonight.

It's really cool.

It's going to happen soon. We're going to. The big meetup is going to be happening and we need as many of you who are listening to come as possible.

It's going to happen.

I'm all for it.

but he has such nice handwriting.

Well,

Well, I think. I mean, my biggest growth has just been, like, knowing more. Like I was saying earlier, I know more about the stuff, but I also feel oddly, as much as I love the show, I love our community, but I feel less, like, obsessive, if that makes like. But if that makes sense. Kind of like, I guess that's kind

Yeah, exactly. More comfortable in my lacquer. And like, I guess it's kind of like what Johnny was saying, really. I mean, just that you get, like, less snooty. You go through that patch of being like, oh, this is the best. This is what you need to use. This is the best. And then all of a sudden you're like, well, but I like some of the stuff that's cheap and I like this. I don't need to buy every new thing that comes out because I have, like, some really great stuff. And I, you know, it just. You become more leveled out, become more even keeled. And I'm just enjoying it more, even more now than I think I was then. You know, just, it's. Yeah, I'm spending a lot less money at this point, which is nice because I have, like, a pretty extremely healthy stash.

Yeah. And that is the one that I've. I've really, like, been able to manage the most, I think, because I've gotten to the point with those that I'm Like, I've got them. I've got what I need. Let me just give me, like, five years to work through the ones that I have.

Oh, nice.

No, that's awesome. But that's. That's just how my. My overall feeling. It just feels like I've kind of mellowed, you know, and I've got a lot of things that I really like. And then when I'm exploring, you know, like, searching for other things, finding out about more stuff, it's. It's more rare, but at the same point, it's more like, on point, if that makes sense. Like, I know. I know what I'm looking for. I know what I want. And I'm not just gonna, like, try stuff, like, totally at random because I know that I have such an awesome group of people to recommend things. And another cool part of our group is, like, over time, over the year, you know, you. You realize, like, the certain people who, like, are kind of on the same wavelength with you as far as, like, preferences and what they like. Which is another cool thing because you, like, have these little groups of people. These little. Even, like, it's sort of like a click, but not a click, because it's not hateful. You know, it's just like you have your little, like, people that you have a common overlap with. You know, for me, whether it's Steinbeck or natural pencils or, you know, it's pretty cool,

I thought this was the last episode. Sorry, I was getting all mushy.

I'm out. I was actually just thinking about that, like, we need to, like, you know, manifest destiny, like, take over.

It's a good idea.

There probably is. Well. Well, no, actually, that seems like it would be weird if that existed maybe. Maybe in, like, a hundred years. But we should. We should totally get somebody from Solinus, like, from his. Like, his museum.

You're close. You're relatively close. Next time you pass by, drop in, be like, listen, this is important.

Oh, man.

Haven't we talked about this before and how it would turn into, like, some crazy, like, Lord of the Flies sort of situation where we're, like, holed up and we're, like, covered in graphite, teeth are all black, and we're like, all

So we have everything we need. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, well, it's been hour and a. Or a year and a half. It's kind of crazy. I will say one thing. I'm listening to a lot more Grateful Dead than I used to.

Now he's old. Totally unrelated, but I listened to almost nothing but the Grateful Dead for three weeks. Guys, I don't know what to do about that.

I wish that was a reason. It'd be a lot more fun. College. Yeah. So that's a problem I've got going on. So if anybody wants to either, like, help me get out of it or, like, do it with me, let me know. Always looking for more Deadheads, but we should.

The Grateful Deadpan. Yes, I'll probably. I'm sure there's some sort of goofy. It's like, disgusting looking. Yeah, it's like real thick and long. It's made of glass and it has this little thing at the end.

It's a bong, Johnny. It's a bong.

Yeah, well, there's some talk in the chat about. So that's where I've been. Yeah. I've had like 4,000 Grateful Dead shows to Listen to online. So that's. It's really been taking up my time. I haven't been to work in weeks and it's.

Yeah, no, I'm. Yeah, I'm actually. I'm actually in the room. I've just got headphones in the front. Shut up. Did you finish reading the textbook yet?

Yeah. This is the best dark star you've ever heard in your life. No. So I just thought this would be a fun conversation to talk about where we've gotten since then. I mean, I feel like I've. It's interesting. Now that we've talked about it, it seems like we're all sort of on the same wavelength in that we've sort of. You hit that kind of climax, like, apex of what you're getting into. Like, you're at the top and you're just like all the good stuff, good stuff, good stuff. And then it all kind of. We've all sort of mellowed out, which I'm sure is from talking to each other and recommending things. We've all kind of mellowed into our. Our happy place and just kind of jump out every once in a while and it's great. I mean, I don't. I. I've lost. Surprisingly, I've personally lost that feeling of what's the next thing. Right.

Like, what do I need next? What's the next. I'm always.

Always looking for something new. Yeah. I mean, I've still got a little bit of it, like if something catches my eye, but I'm not just like, constantly searching, you know?

Yeah. And the group is awesome. So.

Well, should we call it a night?

Missed you guys. It's been missing. Fun.

Sweet.

It just does nothing. You just keep hitting it and it does nothing.

Macs don't crash, so I don't know what you're talking about. Well, Andy, where can people find you on the Internet?

Hello?

I'm on. Well, I'm on in quotes, Twitter imwassum. I'm on Instagram. Timothywasom. And I haven't been on much lately. Facebook. And even in the Facebook group, which I'll sort of. Sort of apologize just because I've been, like, sort of absent. But I've needed a break to just focus on some stuff. Not like bad stuff, but just like writing and just kind of getting my work done, not being distracted. I needed a break. I get, like, super obsessed with that kind of stuff and just check it way too much. So I've been kind of absent. I'm slowly creeping back onto the Facebook group. So you'll see random likes and such, but taking a break. But you'll see me. See me now and then. And you can always email me and stuff. And I see that, but I've been laying low. But that's it. That's it for me.

Yeah, yeah, don't contact me unless you have a sweet help on the way. Slipknot Franklin's tower from some concert. Okay. So that's where you can find me sometimes. But you can find this episode at erasable us 40. We, as always, strongly encourage everyone to join our group on Facebook. It's facebook.comgroups erasable. And we also have a page on Facebook that you can like, and that's facebook.com erasablepodcast and Andy, don't we have an Instagram now?

So I haven't. I haven't logged in. I haven't gotten to, like, play around with that yet. But it's at Erasable Podcast.

Yeah. At Erasable Podcast on both Twitter and Instagram.

Thanks for listening. To the Erasable Podcast. It's good to be back. It's good to talk to you guys and we will see in a couple weeks. The intro music for the Erasable Podcast is graciously provided by this Mountain, a collaborative folk rock band from Johnson City, Tennessee. You can check out their music at www.thismountainband.com.