Scribe

Hey guys, I've been wondering how your cockles are doing.

This is off. This is off to a fantastic start.

So what Alert. Yeah, all pencils.

Alrighty. Like many people, we're watching the second season of the Crown.

Right now I've got one episode left. Two episodes maybe. We just watched the Kennedy episode last night.

So I was good with it. And my reason is that Kennedy is one of those characters that if you try to get people too close to him, it looks like a caricature, you know, like it's too over the top and you're like, you're trying way too hard. So I almost kind of like it when it's, you know, there's a few little similarities. And again, this isn't the guy from the Breakfast Club, right? No, he's way too young as the last episode. This throwback to the last episode when I made that mix up.

But yeah, I was just thinking

you try to get too close to a big historical iconic figure like that, sometimes it can be. Yeah, a little caricature. So I was, I was all right with it. You know, I think they did great job casting on. On Jackie, but yeah, definitely.

Amazing. So we're enjoying that quite a bit. It's a different season, but I like. It's kind of nice to be past the. The first season was fantastic, but I was worried that the getting used to being queen thing was going to be, like, super drawn out. And I feel like it shows how mature she was and ready to take it on. And so it's more like she's like, dives right into all this, and then this season is about everybody else sort of catching up to her, and then the end of the season is where she's all of a sudden getting a little self conscious, and it's just really interesting. So I like it a lot. Yeah. Listening. I am super excited about this album. A friend told me about this. Who is one degree removed. Is that if you know somebody who knows somebody, or is that 2 degrees? 2 degrees.

Yeah. Anyways, his roommate from college is the engineer for Dan Arbock from the Black Keys. And he's now. He's producing tons of albums and making his own solo stuff, but he has his own studio. And so my buddy had just been with him, not Dan Auerbach, but his friend, and had seen this album that is now out, but it's by a guy named Robert Finley. And Dan Arbock discovered this guy playing on the street at the Memphis Blues Festival. And he is legally blind. He's, like, 70. The album's called Going Platinum. It is. It's amazing. I mean, it's just this, like, old dude, really, just killing the blues. And there, if you look at the album cover of it, there's a picture of him standing in front of this big rack full of, like, rims for cars. This is Robert Finley going platinum. And this guy's, like, super tall, tall, old, old guy. And he's wearing this sweet shirt and leather pan and this huge belt buckle. And apparently that's just how he showed up that day. And so they didn't even have to change his clothes for the photo shoot. Like, you're just.

He showed up and they're like, all right, yeah, that's good. But there's. He had all these cool stories about him. Like, there's this. The last song on the album is called Holy Wine. And it's. They were basically trying to. Dan Auerbach asked him, do you. Do you sing falsetto? And he's like, what. What is that? I don't know what a falsetto is. Describe it to me. And so he kind of did it for him and sang in some falsetto and the guy's like, oh yeah, I can that. And then just nailed the song in like one take and it's really cool. So it's a fun, it's a really fun album. Again. It's called Going Platinum is named that because Dan Arbock and his engineer were working on the album and he just walked in one day and they didn't know he was behind him and he said, we're going platinum, boys. So awesome. 70 year old guy rocking it hard. So I, I highly recommend that. And the last thing and I feel like I. This is something that I'll get flack for or something or I. Tim, you

statement I'm about to make. I hate fantasy for the most part. You know, there's like the, the crossover people like Neil Gaiman and things like that that I can get into whatever. But like real like hardcore world building fantasy stuff I can never do. You can just never can handle it. And I think my problem is that I get super annoyed when I have to learn a lot of nonsense words. Some people love that and I get it. Like I can kind of get why they would like it, but just on, just in theory I can't really understand it. And so when I read fantasy, like I try to read that. Brandon Sanderson, what's it called? The Final Empire. Mistborn is the name of the series. I had people recommending it to me all the time. Like this awesome book, awesome series. First of all, series just kind of makes me back away. But I started reading it and like two pages in I was like, my face was sore from my eyes rolling so hard. Just like I don't want to. I'm not going to learn all these stupid words that I'll never be able to use again. So anyways, I just don't like fantasy.

Yeah, now that we've gotten that out of the way. Yeah, that's. That just annoys the crap out of me. And I can't do fantasy most. I mean I'm actually like this is probably the most, you know, like one of those things. I feel like everybody has the thing everybody likes that they don't like. You know, if you're like the guy who doesn't like Star wars or the person who doesn't like Harry Potter or whatever. I don't like Lord of the Rings. I've never been able to read it. I like the movies fine, but never been able to read It. I've tried it so many times, but this is all a long buildup to say that I found fantasy that I like by a recommendation of the same friend who showed me that going platinum. So he's the secret behind my taste making skills. But he put me onto a book called the Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. And it's fantastic. The writing's amazing. He's a really, really fantastic writer. And so far, you know, 70 pages in, I don't feel like I'm stuck in the weeds and having to learn a million things about this world that I'll never have to think about again. It's just they're good characters and the. The action of it is really compelling. And again, the writing, just the prose of it is really beautiful. So I've been enjoying that quite a bit. So I went from not liking fantasy to suddenly being devoted to reading an 800 page fantasy novel. And I'm liking it so far.

Irrelevant.

No, no. I love everything about Harry Potter. And that's like one of those that I would call like a crossover because you've got like the real world and then I love the stories where there's a real world and there's like one thing that's a little tweaked about it, you know, like the Neo gaming does that a lot.

Am I really gonna say this? Don't care because I don't like. No, that's Star Wars, I think. But when I think of Doctor who, I think sci fi, Star Wars, I think Star wars is like a hybrid, I think.

When I think fantasy, I think a whole world has been created out of nothing that doesn't really resemble, in a lot of ways the world that we know. And then that plus space makes Star Wars.

the erasable podcast so the Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. And apparently he has a really cool podcast that I don't listen to, so I'll think about that. I want to say it's about board games, so I probably won't listen to it, but I think that's what it's about. Anyways, I am writing with a Blackwing 1917. Liking that quite a bit. And I am writing. Hang on a second. On the back of our power bill,

I got a scrap paper. There's the back of our power bill. Just mixing it up. I already had notes jotted all over it from something before. And so I just had been carrying it in my pocket downstairs and just decided to just own it and put all this fancy paper surrounding me that's piled up on my desk. Let it take the week off.

I do have some Baron fig note cards in front of me that I'm planning to take some notes. Anything that I need to remember, show notes, things like that too. So I might switch to that if I'm feeling like the power bill is not up to the task.

is a typewriter bell.

Yeah.

Oh, man. Speaking of Paul Dano, we were at the Biltmore estate this last weekend, or the Vanderbilt, the big Vanderbilt home in Asheville, and they have a. This, like, 100-year-old bowling alley built into their house, and it looks exactly like the one that he gets killed in and there will be blood. So it was kind of. It was a little terrifying to be in there, but I had a Paul Dano moment just a couple days ago. It was a little scary.

Blinders.

Yep.

because it's a thousand pages long.

Yeah.

Awesome.

Tell that just from the COVID Yeah.

It read pen out.

I didn't know about this at all.

I enjoyed it quite a bit. It's its own thing. It's not like anything else they've done so far, and I was fine with that. It was kind of the. I felt like it was the movie that set them into the direction of Marvel movies or something, that they can all be their own thing. And there's going to be so many of them that if one's not a hit. Not saying this one wasn't a hit because I liked it a lot, but if it just kind of made me okay with. Okay, I've got a whole lifetime of Star wars in front of me and at some point there's going to be one that's a stinker. And you know what? That's okay because there'll be more. But it was so different and had such a big scope with all these characters. I don't want to give things away for people who haven't seen it, but it was.

Yeah. What'd you think, Andy?

Yes.

Yeah, I think, I think I agree with you. Unless he comes back, if he shows up in a good point in a further movie, which I think he will. You know, people keep calling him the new Lando and stuff and I think.

Um, yeah, which I. You know, anyways, if he shows back up, then I think it would. It could be redeemed. But just as. As is, that whole storyline was a little.

A little tiresome at points just because it was. I felt like they were just, hey, look at this big casino world that we're about to build at Disneyland.

Yeah, right.

It was good. I saw it twice. It was.

Good, good.

Let's do it.

Well, the first thing I was going to talk about when I was at that Biltmore trip, I went to the stationary store that I've talked about in the past, the one in Asheville that really the only one I have around me that's not just a Michael's kind of place. It's really all I've got. But went there and I always like going there and they have a really good or a decent Blackwing display. It's not like some of these I see in the group where people have their singles of all the new editions and stuff, they have started carrying the special editions. And I really had to hold back from buying some more Blackwing 73s just to stock up. One thing I did get there, that's something I've been meaning to get for like five years, is a Faber Castell perfect pencil. The. The plastic one. Is it just called the perfect pencil?

So is the. Is the fancy metal one? Because they had that one there too. Is that called something else or is that just a different version?

Okay.

Yeah. And they have the one not $251. The not $151.

Yeah, I. Yeah, I got the green one which is, you know, it's like 10 bucks or something. And I. I'd been there before and had looked at it and I never bump into it anywhere else, so I'd have to order online. And I just went for it. And so Johnny, you've recommended Faber Castell 9000 pencils to me a lot. And like, I know you like B and the 2B of those. And I. They've not like really hit me and I've liked them fine. I didn't. But there's something about this one that I feel like it's different because I really, really liked it. And I don't know if it's because it has the eraser on the end. And so it just feels different when I'm riding with it because I've. This gets kind of into the weeds, but it's. I feel like an eraser pencil has just a little bit better of a weight that you don't feel like the vibrations of a just capped pencil or something. And so it felt nicer. I just loved it so much. I took it to the Biltmore and. And used it while I was there with all the notes I was jotting down and then brought it home and of course got out all my nine thousands and was like trying them all on, like, which one should I carry around? And I actually haven't really messed around with it with other pencils. Do you ever use it with other pencils, Johnny? Like, does it work with pretty much

I think I've only ever used the 4B and the Jumbo, like the real soft jumbo, but I should check that out. But I'm liking the B right now. That's what I was using at school all day today, not the refill because that seems like a waste. I was just using a 9000B at school today and was really enjoying it.

Yeah, so that's something I was. I was happy about that I hadn't really avoided for any real reason. And now I have it and I've been carrying it around pretty much every day. I like, I love the sharpener. I'm a little sad that I can't replace it. I'll just have to buy a whole new thing which, you know, big deal, it's fine. It'll be a long time before I wear it out. I think. I think about that kind of thing far too much like many people in this community. But I don't mind replacing it. So I think that's a good, a good purchase and I'll get good use out of that. And I also got it and thought this would make a good gift for people. It's kind of an interesting little item that I might think about getting that as just pencilly gifts for friends and stuff. Before we started recording, I was also alluding to the smell of ammonia in the room right now, which is because I'm cleaning out fountain pens. And so I was. I forget what. You know, I actually had a friend. I have a friend who's. He probably is listening. But we got to talking about. We found out that we both like fountain pens and we. He lives in Georgia now, we don't see each other but like maybe twice a year or something like that. And he knew I was interested and we started talking about it. And I always have one inked up and I usually take one to school and I'll use it fairly often. But I just got back into it and started inking stuff up. And again I had the whole realization of this is such a friggin hassle like all the time. Like I don't know why this is. It always hits me as a surprise and it always will because I'll continue Using them for the rest of my life, because when you get them just right, it's so nice. But I was dealing with, like, three different pens that were, like, bleeding ink all over me, and I couldn't get anything lined up, and I had to, like, clean things out to get the ink to flow right. And then I realized that the feed was in backwards, and it was just this, like, huge asshole. So finally I'm cleaning it all out. I'm gonna ink up one, and I'm just gonna use it, and it's gonna be the one that I know won't give me grief, and I think about just stashing the rest of them away.

That's insane.

My hands literally look like I just, like, choked a small animal to death.

No, I have, like, red. Like, dark red ink, which is what I like to use, like, on all of my fingers, like, literally all of my fingertips right now from. From pulling things apart. And it's just kind of. I guess, just maybe it was just bad luck because of all the things I was trying to use, and all of them had. And some of them had been sitting for a while, and so that's why I'm trying to clean them out and just kind of start fresh, because I got a little overzealous. But it. It definitely. When I got to work today, it had me running back to my. To my pencils to get some stuff done. Finally, because I kept. Over the break, I kept trying to write with my. My fountain pens, and then. And part of it is probably just like a neurosis where you're trying to write with them and you're like, no, you know what? This could be a little smoother. I'm going to try to tweak this. I'm going to try to do that. This isn't quite right. Then you just keep messing with it to the point where then you're. Yeah, you're. You're covered in ink, and it's even worse than it was before. And, yeah, this is a pencil podcast. We have either people that this would delightfully ruffle or would entertain.

So with our friends at the pen attic.

Oh, that's lame. I'VE never even heard of that.

Yeah, I mean, I've heard of that.

I just meant.

I.

I didn't know they had stores. That's crazy.

And those are the ones that I, you know, I have. I have a few of those. And those. Those are the ones that are about as reliable as they get. You can't really. It's hard to screw one of those up. So.

Almost never. I've. I've never had a problem with one being like, scratchy or anything like that.

Maybe that's what I'll fill up tonight. Just stick with that. But that's all I've got. So, Johnny, what about you?

But Hagen says it hates paper. Yeah, I like that.

Premeditated hate tweets.

Band name.

Good hugger, that's for sure.

Johnny and the soft shoulders.

Fan name. Yeah.

Cushions your hands.

Yay.

excuse me?

But like ruined. Nothing's been like ruined.

You had just ordered it and you told me which one you had ordered, which was the, what was it called? The Dana.

Dana Wireless.

I think my dad had every one of them.

And I would always get them like a year later. So, yes, I have.

You are not wrong.

Like, it's not totally distraction.

One of those, like, do it just because they can say they can do it.

I'm on eBay right now.

So I'm shopping.

This is the nerdiest thing I'VE ever been excited about.

And it has officially defeated the purpose of AlphaSmart.

Oh yeah, cup holder.

There's a Stormtrooper one.

There is hope.

This one's bedazzled. That's fantastic.

People are awesome.

That one with the lights even has like a flip. Like it has lights that go along the bottom of the screen. And then you can close the lights. You can just like flip it up or like flip up a little panel that reveals the lights if you need them. And then if you don't need them, you can close the panel, the lights go away.

It's an indirect pencil acquisition, but I got a Leatherman for Christmas, and so it's actually a little bit of a saga because it was crazy cold last week and my car breaks down quarterly every year and so on. I got a Leatherman and I was excited because I could use it for knife sharpening and things like that.

Exactly.

So that's what happened. No, it's not what happened. It was super cold. And on New Year's Day, I went to the grocery store, which is called Food City.

It's kind of like food and stuff on Parks and Rec. But I went to the grocery store in the morning at about 8:30 to get some milk. And I was there until 1:30 because my car broke down and it was so cold that the metal clip on my Leatherman snapped in half.

Yeah.

Yeah, it was like four degrees or something like that. Wind chill. It was like negative 4 or something like that. And the other clip snapped in half. So anyways, I returned it to get. To eventually get a new one. But my wife went on a trip to Knoxville and actually picked up a. A little Gerber. It's essentially the same idea, you know, like a little multi tool from Gerber called the Dime. And it's a mini one because I, I had told her, like, yeah, I, I liked this. My, my Leatherman was pretty big. And she said, well, you know what? Like, maybe you should think about the smaller ones. And so I, I found a Leatherman that I had in mind, but Then she found this one, which I'm holding in my hands right now. And it is about 2 1/2 inches long or something. And I love it. I love having one of these little things with a bottle opener and scissors and all that and the knife. But I also like used the knife to do a little pencil sharpening. Not like from scratch, but in a pinch I was. And I say in a pinch. I also had like a little time on my hands, obviously to do this, but not to sharpen a whole pencil, but a pencil that had just dulled, just kind of top it off and it worked. Really? Yeah. It's called the Gerber Dime. And I was able to get the pencil back into good shape. And I know that there was a conversation on Twitter started by Brad Dowdy, who is looking into knife sharpening. And so knife sharpening kind of came up on the Internet that one day of something in which I was interested to read what everybody said, but I didn't have a whole lot to say about it because I haven't tried a whole lot. I know we've, we've talked about the Opinel knives and things like that, and I've tried those things. And I always like to use a razor blade, but this has just turned into a really cool option. The blades only 2 inches long. It's little thing, but it worked well for me. And so I was happy with. That was a cool, cool purchase. And I think also the pliers will come in handy with Hack Wing.

Because of pulling out, you know, pulling ferrules off and also using the, the pliers to kind of, you know, crimp ferrules back on to other pencils. So that's going to come in handy. So that was, that was really it. I mean, besides, like the. Technically, the Alpha Smart was a Christmas present that I just got early. So that has nothing to do with pencils. I did not get any new pencils. I will, I will say that I. Besides buying myself the perfect pencil after Christmas, but I was, I was very close to using, to requesting some more Blackwing 73s, also not just buying them at that store, but I thought about asking for those from somebody for Christmas. And then I just kind of came to my senses because I have all the pencils, so.

Yeah, well, it's, it's always. Of course I do. Yes. But I came to my senses in that I know that there's always something else that's going to come out. And so I was like, no, you know what? I'll just wait and I'll get the next thing that comes out.

So pretty light on the pencil. Pencil stuff for Christmas this year. Oh, besides the package from the wonderful Lenore. Lenore sent a package from Vegas that was fantastic with that cool notebook with all the crazy pages with the weird grid. Grids and stuff.

What did I say?

Oh, yeah, sorry. No, I was born. Yeah. From Vegas. I'm sorry. That was a.

A brain fart. Yes. Yeah. Sorry.

I'm sorry.

So.

Yes. Yeah, Kamar, that was. That was so cool. That was such a big surprise. We got to the house and Jade's like, you got something from Pencil Santa. It's like, what? What are you talking about? He's real.

Johnny told me about him, but I didn't believe him.

And so that was a awesome surprise. He's like. She's like something podcast related, probably. It says Pencil Santa. What? Ran over all giddy and opened it up and it was. It was an awesome surprise. Had a. Kamar had signed a field notes notebook, you know, Vegas notebook, and put it in a little sheath. And that was. That was a really cool surprise. So I can't not mention that because that was very kind of her. I was really appreciative.

So that's me. What about you, Johnny?

Thinks he's so cool, but his cores.

It's so cool. When you sent us that picture, I was. I jaw dropped. I ran and showed Jane. I was like, you got to see this. This is amazing. Did you. Is that something that you had been looking for or was that something that they just found? Like, was a total surprise.

It's.

Johnny's gonna drop a move.

Yep.

Give them beer, trampoline.

Yeah.

That's awesome. As you said that, I was doodling a drawing of John Lennon's face on the power bill that's next to me.

That's cool.

Boom.

Didn't even know it was a thing.

You're a spy?

Superhero.

Duh.

That's a good one.

Oh, wow. So.

Been there, done that. It was great.

No.

Let me look at it and that was not me. Nope.

You know, something I forgot to talk about. But I'm just going to go ahead and jump out of order and bring it up.

Is that I traveled with my Alpha. Smart. I had mentioned that I was going to say something about this.

So we traveled to Florida and so I flew and it was pretty entertaining to pull that out and put it in the, like, little container at the security check in at the airport because I had people like doing like a double and triple take at it. Like, what the hell is this?

This looks like. How is that? I was not. I was not. Not expecting that to happen. I was like, it'll happen. But I got it in there. We were flying with two kids, so it was like. I wasn't really expecting to get much writing done anywhere, let alone on the airplane.

But I did pull it out for like five minutes and played with it. And it was a really satisfying experience to be able.

I think a favorite thing about it is that it just right up and it's ready to go.

But it travels really well and it doesn't take up much space at all. And they're super light. And my son just kept like reaching over and just like hitting random keys on it. I was trying to use it, which was kind of funny at the time. But it was his first plane ride. So he was all hopped up and crazy. It was. As we were taking off. He was. He wasn't scared or anything, but he was. He just kept going, oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh. But with like a smile on his face. Like, oh, my gosh. This is. Oh. Like a sensory overload. Oh, my God. Maybe are we in the air right now and like nobody. We're still on the ground.

So we were moving and like anytime that like we'd pull back or like rise up or the sort of. The elevation would change and we'd feel it. He'd be, oh, my God. But yeah, so traveling with it was. It was a lot of fun. And I didn't take a computer with me at all. I didn't. I didn't have a need for one. So I took that and I did, you know, over the course of the week. We were staying in my parents condo and I had it sitting on like the little island in the middle of the kitchen. And as I would have. I mean, we're trying to work up short story ideas and things like that and. And I would just walk up and I'd fire it up, click on file number three where I was keeping my story ideas. And I would type up the idea and shut it down and move on. And of course, I never had to charge it or put batteries in it because they last like six months. Yeah. So it's. It was great. I loved having it with me. So it's. I'll definitely travel with it now. I've got. So I've got the two and so I've got one that I'm keeping at school and then one that I'm carrying around with me.

Probably.

So, yeah, mine fits perfectly into the. The laptop section of my topo bag. Like my mountain briefcase slides right in just like it is a little taller than the. Like a MacBook or something. But yeah, it might though. It's worth trying.

on you can definitely try out one day.

Massive Linux machine.

I had to derail us and mention that just because I couldn't help myself.

The accidental. There you go. Title of the episode.

The Alpha Smart Asses.

There you go.

All right, good night, everybody.

Firefox had crashed. So now I'm back in. And now I can see. Now I can see it. So, yeah, charcoal crayon on the side of a truck that works in the winter. I'll take it. Yeah, Johnny, what do you got? Yeah, that was like. When we talked about this topic, which I think it's a cool topic, I couldn't help but my response being like, isn't that the kind of one of the ideas of pencils is that all pencils are perfect for winter writing? Because that's the idea. And I can talk as much as with pencils. I feel like anything works. I do have one of the fountain pen things that's happened with this cold and having my bag in the car and stuff. I'm driving home, I was at school today and opened up one of my fountain pens and the ink, I guess had frozen and expanded and shot out. And so I opened the cap and red ink just poured out onto the page in front of me. Little like, pool of it.

Exactly. But it happened and it was really frustrating. And so, I mean, luckily it didn't like, get on important stuff. And so I just took a piece of paper and kind of crumpled it up and dropped it in the trash. And then didn't even clean up the pen. Just screwed it back in really tight and put it in my bag. And that's what I've got. One of the ones I've got cleaning out now.

They're like, right when school was starting. So it would be awesome if they walked in. So my hands were covered in like, red.

Freshman freshmen are just screaming and running out of my classroom like, no, he killed a puppy. He killed a kid.

That's why you always leave a note. That's funny. That's a good one.

Things are amazing.

You sure do. Say pipe. Say pipe insulation. Is that what you said?

Yeah, that's why.

Your backpack with.

Yeah.

A Scout book. They're.

Well, you'd have to travel like 2, 000 miles to try it out. Yeah.

Yeah, I, I was gonna say, I know with paper like when it's really cold outside. Like if I was actually was and I'm not really in a situation where I find myself out. Like I'm not walking outside or anything like that. Yeah. In the really cold. Because I live in a place where you, I mean you have to drive everywhere you go and so I don't have this problem. But when my hands are cold, when I'm in a situation where it's like freezing, I do think that I do like top, like top bound notebooks rather than like something that's like perfect bound or something I'm gonna really have to hold apart. That is nice to just have something that'll just lay perfectly flat.

Because the weather and wetness and stuff will do weird things. I did have, I have one of our write notepads memo books in my, in my backpack and that, that's really nice to use. You know when it's really cold and you just want to flip something open, not have to like hold anything down. You just kind of like flip it open, write what you need, close it.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, that's true. And I think, you know, another thing is to think about like carrying pencils when it's really cold outside. It's just something to think about that for instance, like I talked about the perfect pencil earlier. But that seems like a good option for when you're in the cold. Something that can keep it compact and you've got everything you need right there because you've already got tons of stuff kind of packed onto you in Layers. And you're, you're trying to. Yeah. Just take care of that. So to have something that's kind of an all in one, like a one stop sort of thing to carry around.

Seems like a good idea in, in a sort of extreme weather where you're already carrying a bunch of stuff and you're layered and all that.

To have your, your sharpener, everything there. I don't know if maybe that's another thing that if it got so cold, it would just freeze and crack, but I don't know.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Go inside if it's, if it's that cold, go inside and use your pencils.

yeah.

Carrying the rain backpack. Yeah.

Sure. Sounds good.

Tim, you can find me on Twitter imwassum and I'm on Instagram TimothyWassom.

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.