Episode 79 - An Update on our Goals

0:00Hello, you are listening to the Gourmet Pens Club podcast. This is a collective of creators and callings that bring us together. Here are your hosts Aziza and Candace. Hello everybody, welcome to episode 79 of the Gourmet Pens Club podcast. That is wild because we are won away from 80 and yet we won't reach it for the foreseeable future. Because that's like foreshadowing. Hi, I'm one of your host Aziza, aka Gourmet Pens. Let's welcome co-host number one. Hello, I'm co-host number one. I am Candace aka Incson Anchors. Sorry to co-host number two. It's okay. It's also our producer.

1:00Hi, I'm co-host number two. The one that makes us sound good. When I try, I am Chi. Hello. Don't Google her. I mean, you can't. It's not dirty. It's just sad. To be clear. You hear a sad dirty. It's just sad. You will Google her. You will find nothing. There's no information there. So if you're looking for someone to stalk, it's not cheap. That's right. Oh, thank you. Yeah. So we're ready for the fun. Let's try again. We're very much better at that in person. Professional. Yes. Candace, you have a story. Oh, I wanted to tell you guys this because I was. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Before we do anything. So I don't know if you remember this, but I told you that I was kind of into my exploring permanent inks or at least. I've started to use my permanent inks. So like I'm using the diamond forever inks, which I quite enjoy.

2:03And I've been doing them on my to do list for work because I have this panicked feeling that all of a sudden, if you're working at your desk, and water falls, so like you spill a drink or something, it'll fall on top of your to do list. And what will happen? It'll disappear. Did this happen to you? Or is this just a fear? Well, so I've been doing this quite religiously now doing my to do list in this diamond forever ink. And yesterday, I was eating lunch, not at my desk, like at a kitchen table, like an actual kitchen table, not my work desk. And on to be notes to me, my lovely dog Daisy, the Labradoodle, that'll eat garbage. Ding bad Daisy. Oh, no. Ding bad Daisy. So apparently, if you use diamond forever ink, it makes no difference. If it's inside a dog stomach. Oh, no. And maybe forever. So here I am. So careful to use a permanent ink to do my to do list.

3:04Oh, no. And the whole list disappeared. And so now I was just like panicking. Did Daisy okay? Oh, this is not unusual for her. Okay. This is the first time she's done. She's eating my to do list. She loves paper, right? She loves paper. So she has eaten almost whole manuals of appliances. And if you recall, if you recall, she chewed on my pen. I do. Yeah. Yeah. And I was devastating. Actually, the timing works out because when that happened, Brad from Mythic Pen Company reached out. It was a mythic pen. And he said, Candice, don't worry about it. He said, I'll replace it for you. And I said, oh, you know, thank you so much. And he goes, yeah, no worries. But it turns out that it took a little longer for various reasons. And I actually just got that yesterday as well. Oh, my God. So he returned it to me. Oh, that's so exciting. So we celebrated by her chewing something else and swallowing my to do list. She's a labra dangle doodle. Well, a dangle by doodle.

4:04This is the lab part of her, which I understand from other lab owners. They will eat almost anything. Right. And so she is true to that. You could actually use the dog ate my homework excuses. Yeah. I know they literally ate the homework. Literally ate this list. How did she get it? Well, this is it. And my husband said, where was it? I said, well, it wasn't in my usual spot. It was just on my tape, on my desk. I must have, I have this stand that I put it on. Right. And I must have taken it off and put it in front of me to write or update my to do list. Right. And I must have got distracted and went to have lunch and left it near the front of my desk. I'm usually better now, like within range. I, yeah, I usually, before I get up from my desk, I always move my pens out of range. Yeah. Right. To be fair, like you're, Daisy is, like she's like a deer. Like she can, she has range, right? Like she can totally grab things off your desk if she wanted to.

5:05I know what a thought. I thought, you know, if I had pizza on my desk, she would, she would be tempted. But who would have thought a paper would be tempted by your homework? Paper. She's like, um, die of mine forever, ink. I'm on my mom. Well, she, she not only ate that, but she'll say the clip that was holding the pad together. Oh, no. Yeah. I expect to see a reappearance of. Oh, I'll say clip things. I mean, I guess you can. And the next day or two. I will not reduce. Recycle. It's gross. That one might have to go. It's good to go. Oh, no. This. This makes your other dog who is. Also nuts. Also nuts. Yeah. But it makes her seem more intelligent, which is. That's right. I mean, it's a very low bar. I love your dog's canvas, but they are definitely an adventure. The adventure. I remember when, um, the, the other more, I guess, the smarter dog. She went into, she had stomach issues just throwing up all the time.

6:06And the vet said, well, it could be like a foreign substance. I said, no, she only eats food. And I'm quite sure of that. Yeah. At least I know that that one only eats food. If it were a daisy, no. Yeah. It could be a foreign substance. It could have been foreign. Easily foreign substance. Yeah. I think I do dogs. I guess some dogs get pica. That's the thing where like they like some cats do stuff. Or have that. Some humans do it too. But I guess some humans. So I guess it's like a cross species. Because my, um, my, my best friend Stacy, her, she has two Siamese cats. And they eat like cacti sponges. Uh, like they'll go into the sink and eat the sponge. And she's like, could you not? Like, like, I'm still sponge. And they eat it. And then it's gone. And she's like, could you not? That's not like self-preservation. Like, no, no, it's like. And there's only, and there's only certain things. Like for Daisy, it really is like paper towels, tissue paper, paper. And also, as I said, manuals, appliance manuals. But she also likes to chew.

7:07We've got a drain thing that goes over our shower drain. Right. Like to catch. And I think it's like that. Yeah. Yeah. It's a flat piece of like metal or aluminum. But I think it's, it's edged by a rubber. So then it doesn't shift around in the shower. Yes. And she likes to chew the rubber part. So now I have to put it away somewhere out of reach in the shower because she can easily access it anyway. Oh my God. There are only certain things that I think she will go after. And once she figured it out. But she's a maniacal giraffe. It's just. Yeah. It is. Oh my God. It's insane. It eats your homework. Oh. And then she eats your homework. And who's going to believe that at work? It's like, oh, my lab or dingbat ate my stuff. Maybe you can spin this into like, maybe you could do this. Is it art form? Like you could, you know, technically it's paper of a shale in there in her stomach. Paper of a shale? Once it comes out the other end. You have a one she puts on it. It doesn't. It doesn't look like it. It's paper of a shale. Oh. That's right. It's paper of a shale. Actually, it's just. As long as you put an artist statement, you know, you know what?

8:08Though modern art may appreciate that. Fine art. Yeah. I've had this conversation with friends about the audacity of some modern art artists. Yeah. I'm not just artists, but just the whole art system. But that's neither. That's another. Modern artist. Yeah. I can see it. Oh, several, several hours of. So that was lost. Like your work notes were lost. Yeah. I was panicking for. I'm still, I'm still not even sure if I forgot to put something on there. Right. So. Yeah. This is why I take pictures of. First, I do everything digitally. Oh, my God. That's going to come up in our in our later. Okay. Right. Check in. But. Okay. I won't say anything about it now. Okay. Let's. Thank you for your sad story. I'm so sorry. It's really entertaining. Yeah. But. But she makes me laugh. So funny. Thank you for sharing. She is so special. She is so special. I can't. I can't wait to tell my husband about this.

9:09Yeah. But she. Your cat's pretty special too. So. She doesn't eat. Yeah. My homework. No, that's true. She does not. So every time I use diamond forever or any forever ink. You are reminded. This is all I think about. It's just like, oh, the dog likes permanent. This is not going to help. It's permanent. So long as it's not in a dog stomach. That's right. There's. Anyway. So I thought we would do a pick of the pen case just because. Well, I have a pick of the pen case. Do you. Does somebody else want to go first? Or should I start? No, you go. You go. Okay. I'm so excited because I'm a psycho. I have three of these pens somehow because I bought them used. So. Great. It's the pilot custom 743, but the verde green version, which was like the. I think it was a US exclusive. It's a TV North American. It's like. That's right. Right. Yeah. North American exclusive. And it's the one that uses the. It's a cartridge converter system. So it's very similar to the a two three except that it's a cartridge converter.

10:12And I have a broad nib. But first of all, I'm thinking of selling it because I have an extra fine and a double broad and a broad. And I don't need all three. But it's inked with water man harmonious green, which is almost a perfect match. That's an excellent. Yeah. Water man harmonious green is such a good value for money ink. So. And it's so easy to clean. Yeah. Such a nice color. And it's a bit hard to get in Canada right now because they are switching. Distributors. Yeah. Yeah. You know, I used to have those bottles and it was so easy to get. And now I regret. I mean, I have lots of other ink. But I'm just saying it used to be such a good entry level. Yeah, but it's all blue brushable. I have harmonious green. Thank you very much. I also have their purple, which is also. Oh, the purple tender purple. Tender purple. Yes. They changed the name, I think. But it's still a gorgeous. You put her name. I love it. I love you, water man. Don't worry. I just don't like your naming.

11:12They just, they're like. I don't know. They're like mom block. They just like rename their name. Yeah. It's the same. It's the same colors. It's just. But they're really upfront about it. They're upfront about it. Yeah. Yes. Correct. Yeah. They don't lie about it. Yeah. But anyway, that's what I have because I haven't inked in about six months. And I just, I was digging around in my bank. Did you ink the broad, double broad or fine extra fine? Well, I actually inked all three, but I just picked the broad. So the same. No. So the broad has the harmonious green. I see. The extra fine has pilot, you know, Shizuku Kanpeki. And the double broad has more blonde polar green in it. So I actually ate all three, but I just picked. Oh, Kanpeki. Kanpeki. Yeah. I do quite like Kanpeki because I have the anybody. And so if you sold, you're selling the broad. Yeah. Potentially. Yeah. I don't want to say this out loud because Candace will never let me live it down.

12:12I already, I'm already not letting you live it down because you said it to me privately. Yeah, I said it to her privately. I was like, I really like this nib. But if I ever sell the extra fine, it's already going to Candace. Yes. It's like three claims. So it's almost like I'm just borrowing it for the time being. That's right. That's right. But it's a really nice extra fine. And I'm just trying to decide. Like between extra fine broad and double broad. What is a gourmet pens nib? It's the double broad. It's a double broad. For sure. Yeah. Yeah. So I might. This are the next Saturday. Solomon from the Toronto Pen Company will be at paper plus cloth. And I might just go get it gourmet pens modified, which is for anyone who doesn't know. It's a mod that applies to any nib that you have. It makes your nib as juicy, wet and broad and smooth as possible. So even if you have a fine nib, he can really quantify it for you. So which one are you getting that done to?

13:13I think in the double broad. Yeah, I'm just going to say it's going to be like a wet ass wire fire hose. Yeah, like a nice fire hose. So that's what I'm thinking. I'm going to do. Yeah, I was thinking of going and getting a nib ground as well. But I'm not sure if I'm going to. And also because next door there's cookies. The area around paper plus is a lot of good places. Like so many snacks. And also across the street they have mushrooms. I think that's shut down. Is it gone now? It's gone now. I just want to point it out for anyone who really wants to go do their psychedelics and ink. I was going to say the schwarma across the street. The schwarmas. Yeah. That's good schwarma. What is going on? Honestly, God, the fries they sell there are really good. Oh my God, you're mad. I'm so hungry. I'm so hungry. It's really good. I'm sorry. We digress. We digress because we're maybe hungry because it's what a weird tangent. It's like close to dinner time. So that's why we're hungry.

14:13Yes. Somebody else. Tell us about your. Candice. Please. Well, mine mine is it's not as interesting as yours, but it's a platinum. That's interesting. That is really interesting. I really like it. So this is the one that I purchased in Japan two years ago now. Can you believe it's been two years? Oh my God. Oh my God. And I remember that. Because you only got like two pens. I know. And we were like. Oh, still. Oh. In my collection. I know. I know. Interesting. Yeah. To be honest, this is a really nice pen though. Yeah. I know. I know. Yeah. I know. I know. Yeah. You can see find nibb. And it's a beautifully well tuned fine nibb rose gold trim. Oh my God. And I have it inked with Whoom line An ink dependence collaboration called trust a bivalve Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. That's a cool one. You can see an independent one with shimmer or without without without

15:15with it. OK. OK. OK. And but and it's the I always get the trust to buy avell don't trust a by. Yeah. This is the Trusted by a valve, which is the brown one. Don't trust a by a valve, which is the blue one, like the blue one. Yes, yes, yes. I think they're great. I actually have them like within arm's reach because I use them so often. And I love those colors, but I think it's really nice. What a great choice for that pan. I try to ask Mike once what that was about. And he explained it to me, and I still don't get it, but I do like the inks. It's like inside joke, I think, with his... I think it is good and stuff. So, yeah, I'm too... I was... Do you want some? I have the bottles. You can always play with some. One is like the don't trust a by valve is a stunning blue. Okay, sure. Yeah. I think they're really... It's not a blue black. It's like a dusty blue. But it's... That's okay. It's a gorgeous gorgeous one.

16:15It's really nice. I really, really like this one. Is it more like a grayish kind of blue set? Were you talking? Yeah. Yeah. I'm very dusky. Yeah. Okay, Cheen, what is your pick of the pen case? I didn't have one, so I was actually looking at the show notes, because I'm like, I need some inspiration. So I looked at you guys, your theme was Japanese pens. Oh, yeah. Like very... Yeah, you know? Yeah. So I was like, okay. I have some nice Japanese pens. I was going to put a sailor, because I've been using my sailors lately, but I think my pick of the pen case is my pilot 823. Two. Oh. I would say as a compliment to your pilot custom 743, so it is the piston version of basically the same thing I guess, right? Yeah. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, the vacuum filling version. Sorry. Yes. The vacuum fill version. It's just the amber. It's nothing super special about the... I know people really love the demonstrator version. I got this for a song, and it was a broad, and I was like, yes, please.

17:18And we were talking about so much. So I went to him and I was like, hey, I have the Lamy2K that is broad, that has a stub on one side and a medium stub on the other. Yeah. Can you do the same thing for my pilot 823? Just so I can compare them. And he's like, okay. And now it's like one of my style words. Oh my god. I don't think I've ever not had it filled up. That's awesome. That's amazing. Yeah. So it's gorgeous. I honestly, like I've actually converted people, like when I go to, you know, when I go to meet some stuff and I let people try it out, they're like, oh, I was on the fence for getting this, it's like, it's getting expensive now, the pilot 823. But then they try my pen and I may have influenced people to get it because it is, like, it's great. And, like, I don't know what else to say, like, it is special, especially with someone's double stub. Like, cannot get any better than that. You will like a magickify any nib that you have. Yes. I would say so. Can you unscrew the section of the pilot?

18:20I love Candice thinking. I need to get one of these, but I don't necessarily want. I don't. Vacuum film. You can sort of scan. It depends. I think some of the old ones do have a specific glue, like it shows, not into that. No, no. Yeah. But it's, it's possible. Absolutely. Yeah. You just have to be careful about it, I think. You don't even need to be careful. Candice, you can do whatever you want. So listen to me. That is true. That is true. I decimate my pants on a regular basis, don't listen to me. I do have the older version, I think of it, because like, the person I bought it off of second hand, I'm quite sure he's, he's had it for a while. Oh, yeah. So, yeah. So it probably still has the glue in there. I just never bothered because I fill it up with Lamy Petrol, like the old old version of it, and never had an issue. It's just permanently in there. I'm going to check. So. Yes. Candice. I have a brand new. It's got some 83 clear. Yeah. There you go. Oh, I can take it off. And you asked me when you got it, when you ordered it, and I bought an extra, so in case

19:25you want one, I'm just saying. There you go. There you go. I'm just saying. So if you want to, it's a signature. So you could grind it. Oh, that's beautiful. Yes. Just say, no pressure. Just say. I have a signature as well. It's just not on my E23, but I will say that the signature nibs on the pilots are really nice. Yeah. I don't know. I had a signature and I ended up selling the signature nib because I didn't love it. You didn't need to grind it for the way you use nibs, right? Yeah. But it's like, it's so beautiful for it to be able to double-sided grind. Oh, signature nib. Yeah. I think so. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. The novel on that thing. It's not like a zoom, which is like a 180 type of tipping, but I would say it's like like a 90% tipping. So it's like more emphasized in the bottom, but you could definitely get something where you could write on the... It's still a chunk. It's a chunk of tipping. It's a chunk of tipping. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know.

20:26You're supposed to get sure that you're holding up to. Yeah. Correct. Yeah. Yeah. Because I remember, I never, when I had the signature, I didn't think about grinding it because it was a signature nib, but now you do whatever you want. Not supposed to be buying another pen. But anyway, it's a nib. You're buying the nib. It doesn't count. I'm sure. It's a nib. Oh no. No. I'm enabling. I don't use a pen, but I'm dying. I'm sorry. I'm sure I can. I'm sure I can think of a little exception for this, for this particular one. It's just business as I like to say. We are, if not great, at moving goalposts, so. We are. I was thinking of putting like an architect, one size architect on one side and a different size architect on the other side. Hey. I mean, I did a double stop. Oh my god. Why not? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's the way. I am so excited. I don't like that you're gone all the time. So I'm very excited for you to come back so that we can like fondle pens and like talk about nibs and like touch everybody's nibs. That sounds. Yes. That's what she said. Yeah. That's what she said.

21:26Okay. Okay. Okay. So next up. Okay. So one of the things I wanted to mention, because it's quite sensitive, um, Papa J studio is hosting a giveaway, but it's a contest. So in the show notes, please check the show notes. It will be a link to his Instagram post that describes what the contest is, as well as where to get the contest, um, content. So it's, um, chocolate at chocolate dot CCM did artwork of the Papa J studio's wife. And um, she is part of the creator behind the floral finials. And it's just really cute. And it's like inspired by by Christina and the kitty and, uh, the idea is that you download the coloring page, uh, color it in whatever style you want, upload it, tag him and you will be entered to win based on how popular your artwork is.

22:29And the nice thing is the artwork is done. So you don't have to know how to draw. It's just a coloring contest. So so far, people have done digital things, um, analog things and, um, he suggested to me like, hey, why don't you try doing something like Inky mess style? And I never thought of that. So I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna do this. Yeah. Like, I was thinking like, oh my god of Candace did like a zentangle with like this. That's exactly it. Yeah. She's gonna win that. No, I'm not gonna win. No. No, but it would be totally fine if you did. Um, so the idea is that you just, it's, it's free to enter. All you have to do is follow him, download the picture, download it and re upload it on Instagram. So we will put all the details in the show notes and, uh, voting will take place like March 17 to 20. So there's time to fill in and I just think it's really, it's so exciting. I think it's so much fun as opposed to being like, repost this to enter to win. No, this is more, this is great.

23:29This is great. So, you can get all your friends and then everybody just tags each other like a big circle jerk. So yeah. Am I allowed to say that? It's like a big circle. I don't know. You just said it. I don't know. I'm gonna leave it in. I said it. I'm too lazy. I'm gonna, yeah. She's like, I'm gonna be mad at him. That's fine. So I don't know. I just thought it would be cool. I make the rules. You do make the rules. You do get to decide how to put the link to the, to the artwork. Yeah. To the artwork as well as the contest details. And I think it'll be really fun. But I just think even if you don't want to win the pen, like if it doesn't appeal to you because it's not your color way or something, I just think it's something really fun to do. Yeah. Yeah. And right now the world is really heavy and maybe we're all looking for something to do where we can contribute and like bring joy. And I think this is one of those things. So I'm really grateful to Papa Jay and Christina for doing this. It'll bring something fun for us.

24:30I just think it's sweet. Honestly. It's really sweet. It's like an illustration of his wife. Yeah. It's kind of adorable. I like and like the cats on her head, which is so cool. Hey guys. I like it. Color in my awesome wife. Yeah. So cute. Yeah. It's not like color me, you know, it's like the color of my badass wife. So it's really, it's really cool. Okay. So I just wanted to share that. So. Okay. So I just want to give everybody a heads up. We are going to be taking a short spring break. Just because we thought, you know, we don't want to over saturate everybody with the Gorbid Pens Club and like tempting you with buying things and making you feel like you need to be part of a crazed pen community because I mean, you already are. But to be honest, we just wanted a little bit of a break. Candice is going to be traveling. I've got a, I just want to sleep in for a couple of weeks. Like, you know, so we're just, we're just to give you a heads up. We're going to be taking a bit of a break.

25:31But before we do that, we thought we were good. We would do a goal check in from our goals from the anniversary episode. Uh, just to like touch base, see where we're at. And just as a reminder, remember my, I don't remember a goal. Goals were to try to survive. Oh, and here you are. So I see. So I had, I wrote a whole bunch of notes, but I feel like I want to throw Chi in first. Sure. You got to, you got to give me some of a bit of a remind. I think that was your goal was your goals were try to survive and then use that update. I have cleaned some pens. Oh, yes. I didn't write that note. I have cleaned some. Okay. Okay. That's good. I, I did actually have some other, I think it was some other goals at the start. Um, I had a planner that I was like, Oh, I have this planner. Maybe I should use it. And I succeeded in using it for some, I ended up using it as an analog calendar instead.

26:33And just because I have a daily journal that I'll just write in like once a day. So I continued that. That's not a problem because I like using inks and stuff. But the planner, I was like, what do I use this planner for? Because I use Google calendar for literally everything. Um, and I have a, like I, I guess you call it a dump out, um, or like a dump journal. It's not even a journal. It's literally like, basically I have a bunch of notebooks everywhere in my place. And when I need to write stuff down because I forget, I just dump out the task lists onto these like tiny, like, feel nice. But I've actually, yeah, they end up, they end up getting put into my planner at some point. If I really need to or I'll take pictures, it's, it's very, for anyone who's like very meticulous, they would probably hate my system. But it keeps my brain from going haywire. And I use all of my notebooks. So I don't, I don't feel they need to hoard them. That's just how I am. Um, I don't know what else I, I'm continuing to do that. I cleaned some of my pens. I saw some pens actually.

27:34That's it. I'm still here. So that was back in my goals. Success. I think that's, yeah, the year's young. Yeah. Well, no, I think it's a good, it's the two months in, right? So nice, uh, check in and also a reminder that's sure to keep on track. If we so desire, if we so desire, and like, look, it's, I, it's our goal, so we can choose. Yeah. Mm-hmm. You have, by the way, Candice, you, you actually have a very lofty goals compared to. Yeah. Yeah. Candice's goals are like, wait, but, but she's really good at being impressive, because like, I feel like Candice puts us both a shame lovingly. Yeah. I will say you have a different mindset than some of us. And you attack it with, like she's an actual human, like an adult human. Excuse me. But I have no, you are an adult human, you are, but she's really good at it. She's, she's, I'm glad she's, she's been a, an adult at it, which means I'm older. No, no, no, you're just good at it.

28:34You have figured out, adulting is different than being older. You could be like, some people adult really well, like in their 20s, and some people don't really well in their 40s, and some people never adult. No, yeah. I adulthood in my 20s. I am that type of person. Correct. You are. Yeah. I did not know what I was doing in my 20s. We admire you. Still don't. We admire you. And so do you want me to go through my check-ins? Yeah. Yeah. Like, what's going on? Where are you at? Okay. So I said, no more pens commissioned for 2026, and so far. So good. And where are we? We're beginning of March. That's impressive. I know. I know. Okay. Okay. So only two pens in 2026, but must fund from sale of pens. Wait a minute. Hold on. Did you add something to this sentence? I feel like, that's not what I saw this. It was just, oh. No. No. This is accurate. Yeah. Okay. So I mean, so only two new pens. And even if I, if so if I bought two pens, or whatever pens I purchased, I must have funded

29:37it from pens sold. Right? So. Okay. Yeah. better but. And I don't know about two because I've been selling and keeping it together in a little separate fund. However, and I haven't exceeded the two pens. But I am at two pens, which is a little disturbing because it is March. So they are. The first one, yeah. But if they're spectacular, they could be like, so there is. They are spectacular because one was my loose so lavender. Yeah. But it was used. Have a Lucia. Yes it was. We all know that. Aziza. Aziza. That's like a weird, sorry, sorry, sorry. Like coronary isn't so like, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know. I'm trying to figure out what the rules are because they're always changing. There are no rules. Yeah. Well, the rules are really too. When I met new pens, new to me pens. So that's even more strict, right? So too. Oh, that changes the significance. I don't understand what that means though. Wouldn't they all be just new to you? No, brand new meaning like, like you want to do directly from a manufacturer or a maker or a pen maker or someone. Yeah.

30:39Yeah. That's how Aziza was interpreting it. Yeah. I see. I see. Yeah. Yeah. Um, no, my goal was really only two new pens and so far, you know, I'm there. The second one I just bought. Actually, you haven't heard. I told you guys, but not on the show. Yeah, it is my, it is my bottom ST DuPont pen. And if you recall, I have an ST DuPont line D diamond Giochet, which I ended up selling. Yeah. So that last fall. And I'm totally fine with it. But the one thing I did miss is those ST DuPont nibs are really nice. Like they're each parent nib is really, really nice. Mine was a medium nib and it was a little too broad for me. And I felt like if I kept it, I had to do something either grind it or something without. And also, it was a large pen. It was one of their large size pens, which wasn't too, too large because, you know, I have baker pens. Maker pens are usually quite on the large size, right? Yeah. I don't know. I, I don't regret selling it, but I did miss the nib.

31:43And this happened to come up on Slack. And it is a ST DuPont palladium Olimpio model. I'm not familiar. It seems quite similar to the one that I saw, but it's in a smaller size, but it's a pen stripe. So that's your vibe. That's your vibe. It's my vibe. It's a black stripe. It's a black and still pretty. It is so pretty. And it's like, it doesn't even care. What are these like coronaries that you keep, it's because I need a discount. So it's ugly. It counts. I don't understand. It's an exceptional, it's such an exceptional purchase. Oh my, okay. The best, the best part is that it is a medium nib, but it was, it came with a grind, an architect grind on it. So that just speaks to you. It just, yeah, it just nailed it, right? I couldn't say no to that. So, um, anyway, those are my two pens. Let's see how we do later on. Um, and I did find it brand, right? Sorry, I think so. It's okay.

32:49ST DuPont is French. I, and I did fund it all from like my pen budget. So I'm good with that. No new inks for 2026. Fail. Oh, okay. Okay. Okay. However, however, there have been many inks I've wanted to purchase. And I did not. So I think that should count as something. We tried to give us one example. Just thank you. So, um, Julia here has had, uh, yeah, collaboration with endless pens. Yeah. Uh, I think Karina is a Karina loss to plan or someone else. There have been a few of these collaboration type. I mean, we could do like group collapse. I'm like, oh, inks that I also want. I'm like, we could do a group by, does it count if all three of us split a bottle? Does that even count? No, it doesn't. No, I said gifts don't count. So you could just buy it and gift it now. Buy, I'll buy something else and gift that to you. Yeah. We're just moving the goalpost. But in the, in the end, in the end, I, um, so yeah, there have been

33:56a few. And I've seen a few posts on Instagram. And I think some really cool colors and a kidding pot has some cool, chroma shading type. Oh, yeah. But anyway, I've said no to all that. But I did end up caving in our Toronto Penn Club group chat. There was this one person in the group chat that was buying like, put it in a quarter. Yeah. And, and, and I think pentano, yeah, it seemed like there were 50 of us or something. There was a huge number that put it on their hand. And the ink color was, I thought unusual enough. So it was kind of like an olive-type green, but it had sheen in it, no shimmer, which is what I prefer, no shimmer. Right. And it just looked like a really cool color. Like it was almost like, um, I don't know. Like, I feel like that's like a team buy. Good enough, good enough for you to, to, to sit or, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm just saying, I don't think that sounds like an individual buy. Okay. I'm just saying that they know it's called a group

34:56buy. I'm just very supportive. Thank you, Aziza. I do think it is a nice color. Yeah. I'm not, I'm not here to judge. Yeah. Yeah. No, it's not my job. Yes. That is your job. But you're also here to excuse and, yeah, yeah. I'm like multitasking. I am. I'm finding loopholes and stuff. That's what I was saying. Covering the basis. Other, other goals that I had reduced inks by 20%. I haven't done that just because I haven't been home to, to sort out my collection. And it's on the march. You have a lot of time. Yeah. It's on the march and start a leather project, which I haven't done yet. But I do plan on it and use up my loose leaf paper by making no books. And I do plan. That is on the list of things to do. Um, and I see here it says continue working out, which I have. So I have been very excellent. I feel good about it. Like you're physically enjoying. I feel very good about it. I feel, um, that's so wonderful. Yeah. Definitely. Definitely. I feel really good

35:56about that. So I, um, and I've been the best part is I'd be keeping track of that in my, in my planner. There's a tracker section. Oh, and I like that. It's really motivated me to keep going. I'll have to show it to you guys. Um, I don't know if I want to publicly show people just because. Yeah. Yeah. But I will take a full picture of the page and show you guys how I've been keeping track of it. And it's just been really, really fun. Oh, I love, I love work out trackers. Good for you though. Yeah. And you know what? Like a lot of people, they quit at the end of January and it is March and you're continuing. So I would say you're doing better than 80% of people whose goals are work out. So thank you. Thank you. Congratulations. So yeah, I feel, I feel good about that. Okay. I think that's it. Okay. Oh, I'm sorry. Oh, my chart. Okay. Okay. Okay. I made notes. So first of all, I'm working on emptying pens. I have emptied about 40 of my currently eight. Wow.

36:58There's still about a hundred left. Forty is a lot. Forty is a lot. There's, there's a lot left. And the unfortunate problem is that I'm working on a new design for, uh, rickshaw stuff, which means I need to ink more pens. So I'm about to eliminate that. But I feel like if it's for a work purpose, like a creative person, it doesn't count. It does account. So I'm going to put them in a separate case. They're going in a separate pan case. That's just what's going to happen. I have organized nothing. I have tidied nothing. But now I'm about to buy new toyotens in different sizes. And they're going to help me. Oh, my apologies. No, thank you. I may have showed the, the ladies of some new spring. No, I appreciate it. Yes, I appreciate it. Um, at the beginning of the year, I had a hope on each of weeks. And I started a drops of joy journal and an attempt to capture small moments in the day that brought me joy. I last that about two weeks when I realized and I realized dated planners and dated things do not work for

38:04me. So I gave up. And it's not that I gave up because I am lazy. It's just that I gave up because I don't like the pressure of daily journaling. Yes, I knew, I knew that would, you know, that makes sense. You know me so well. Like that's the thing. I just didn't feel right to me. And so what I've actually been doing is a digital journal. And so on, on like Apple, Mac, and iOS, whatever, they have a new app called journal where you can keep track of things. And so I've actually been using it for work and personal. And so I'm just tracking like my energy levels, like just making a note to myself so I can go back and look at it and say, okay, I had a really intense week. And then the next like the day after that, I was really exhausted. And it's really helping me with my mental health as well as my physical health. Oh, that's great. Shocking. I was expecting such success. Yeah. I have bought nothing. I have borrowed a lot of

39:08pens like for review and for sharing, but I have not purchased any pens, any inks, no accessories, except for, I mean, I don't know if it really counts, but I bought a pouch. Was it part of your goals to not buy anything? No, my goals were to just limit my fountain pen purchases and be aware of my ink purchases. And I bought a pouch, some stuff at the Philly fan show, but it was just like, like, I think he can all these. Yeah, I did not buy any pens. I actually did. I really wanted a shown pen, but the pens that he had created for the show were aluminum cannot be I droppered. And I was like, these do not fit my criteria. So I'm going to disregard which was painful, painful, but impressive, but impressive. It is impressive. And I think it's really important as we do this to remember that we don't have to buy every single new pen that comes out. I mean, I have a lot of pens and I'm very fortunate. I'm very blessed because I have access to a lot of

40:13pens because I have a lot of friends that have a lot of nice pens. So I'm fully aware of that. But I'm trying to be really rigorous in how I purchase and really hold myself to a certain standard. And so far I've been doing it. And I have just been shopping my own pen case and exploring my own papers that I've had for years and just never had time to play with them. And it's just been really good. And trying to share them online so that other people can see that hey, like, hey, Gourmet pens went into her own pen case. She put a pen that she hadn't used in five years and she's enjoying it. That means I don't have to go buy a new pen to enjoy it. I can enjoy something that I've owned for five years. And I think it's really important that we remember that we can enjoy what we already own. And that was the whole point of like of us starting pick the pen case was to do this. So I've been very good. I did start a gratitude journal. It failed

41:15as well. Oh, not surprise, not surprise. I think I'm not grateful. I think for some people having structure is good. Yeah. For some people having structure is stressful. It was stressful. I found that if I wasn't filling out every single day, it was just stressing me out. Even though I was experiencing gratitude for small things every day, it just wasn't right for me. And I found what really helped was posting more regularly to Instagram about the things that I wasn't joy. Okay. Yeah. So you found a way to do it. Yeah. Like the whole idea that exercise was to find gratitude, not necessarily to, you know, get into the minutia of putting into a book. Absolutely. And I'm not somebody who can make, like, I'm not a journalist. I'm not someone who does cute spreads because I just can't, like, I just can't do that. And so I very much admire people who do it. And I love seeing what other people create, but that's just not who I am and who I will ever be. And so I was like, it took me a couple of months to realize this. I'm like,

42:18wait a minute, this is just not for me. Like, it's not. And I've been spending more of my time focusing on myself and ways to find, like ways to enjoy small things, like instead of having my cup of coffee in the morning at my desk, I stand outside in the sunshine with the neighbor's cat who comes to visit. And it's like really so healthy. Oh, yeah. You need to touch some grass, lady. Yeah. It's totally that. It's touch grass. It's really that. And I fully encourage other people to do the same because I think right now the world is really heavy and everything is overwhelming. And remembering that we can do small things to improve and impact our lives is really important. So that's what I've been really focusing on. And I've very much been enjoying it. I'm glad. What a good point. Like what a good point at which to take a spring break, right?

43:19Yes. Oh my god. Okay. That's it. I love the fact that it's spring is coming up to. Yeah. I'm the type of person that gets affected by weather. So the fact that, you know, the days are getting longer and it's not complete ass outside. Yeah. Which by the way, Candace, when you come back or deep ass freezes is like now actually it's we're, you know what? We're above zero, which I don't think it's terrible to people. But for us, it's like shorts, weather is coming. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. I, in fairness, I stand outside of my pajamas and like, I'm sure my neighbors are like, what on earth? No, it's above zero. It's above zero. And I like to the cat. I'm like, oh game. And they're like, oh my god, this weird, all this, this like crazy person. And I'm outside taking pictures of my pens and the sun. And they're probably like, what is this person doing? And you know what? I am here for it. I'm here for myself. And I love it. It's fine. I think that's awesome. My neighbors have seen me take photos on my

44:21back deck of my pens. They don't, they don't even bother to add. Look, people are, the people be do what they want to do in my neighborhood. I think we all just, are just happy that it's sunshine, you know? Yeah. Yeah. My point is like, I'm not judging you as easy as I don't think anyone else is judging you. Maybe the cat. Maybe the cat. Well, cats are judgmentals. Oh, absolutely. Anyway. So just a reminder, we're taking a spring break. It'll be possibly a week, maybe a month who knows? But keep an eye on our Instagram, Gromy Pens Club. And we will keep you posted. If you need your Inky supplies or special pens like Bennu exclusives, very sexy, Opus 88s with massive ink tanks or just like some special inks, please visit us at GromyPensshop.com. We are shipping out of Toronto, but it's a .com slash .ca. Anyway, whatever. I'm super

45:21hungry. I love you guys so so much. Thank you all for being here with us. And we will see you soon. I am Aziza, aka GromyPens, signing off from the GromyPens shop. And I'm Candace, aka Inks and Inkers on Instagram and YouTube. And I am she. Okay. I will, I will say this just because we're going on a spring break doesn't mean that you guys can't check out what Aziza and Candace are doing. But I'm sure not be there. Oh, yeah. It's true. It's just the podcast. We're still doing stuff. We're still doing stuff. We're still doing stuff. But but we will spring break and we encourage you to do the same because sometimes we all need a social media break and that's okay. Yeah, let's go touch grass goes. Touch grass, touch grass, lick it, eat it, whatever makes you happy. Okay, love you so much. Bye. This podcast was sponsored by GourmetPenshop. Need some tools for a slinging ink? Samples to explore? Hop on over to gourmetpenshop.com and consider supporting us by

46:25taking up some cool new stuff. And if you like what you hear, please give us a review on Apple podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts. Awesome. The fuck was that at the end? Wait, I haven't stopped yet. Okay, I'm stopping now. I'm sure there's like stuff which I could take from our conversations to put in the end. I feel like you could make an entire episode of the hot and the pigs that came out of our mouths. Two months out on our break all of a sudden, there's like a genius hot takes that just shows up. Just like the episode episode eight. 79. Oh, eight. Oh, you mean the next episode? Yeah, our next episode. Yeah, hot takes. Okay.