The Pen Noobs Podcast

We've been gone for a while and it really isn't surprising at this point, but we do have our reasons and we talk about them in this episode.  Other than catching up with each other after our respective literal and figurative moves (Ryan to another country and job, Jika to another employer), we go into our newest finds, what we're excited about, and our most recent learnings too about what makes us do what we do or do not in this happiest hobby of ours. Yes, everyone, we're demotivated and that's actually been a good thing. :)

Here are the usual links relevant to the episode: 

So it's Pride Month and we'd thought that it'd be a right enough time to celebrate not just queerness in the now-conventional sense, but also queerness--the characteristic that distinguishes, sets apart, makes special--the habits and things that we know and love in the hobby. This isn't an episode about buying yet another thing, but really, just celebrating the innovations and aspects of pens and stationery that are not so conventional but oh-so attention grabbing.   

* Apologies for the audio flitting in and out in the end because, as it turns out, our mic's USB was loose in its port. 

Here are some links of note:  

So we're a spot out of sorts in this one but we showed up regardless because we want to talk about current events but, technically, cannot talk about it given the current climate in our country. Thus, we resort to talking about the issues relevant to our circumstances through pens and stationery controversies as of late. There aren't any noob discoveries in this one but we do cover the Noodler's Ink Volcker Green and Bernanke Red controversy, harken back to the Hobonichi Michael Jackson line recall, and update you about the Esterbrook-Skybambi property rights thing (which we hinted at previously in ProperTEA talk).

Anyway, LINKS!

If you're part of Fountain Pen Palengke (FPP), the Philippines' Facebook marketplace for fountain pen and stationery lovers, Sir Alden Castaneda would be no stranger despite being largely an enigma. Ryan and I only met him recently for this episode, after two years of buying our pens/half our pen collections from him. He's a "power seller" with a remarkable manner of penabling. His posts are reliable and always attention-grabbing in their selection and composition. He'd pick a theme to tie some 5 to 10 pens together with the caption (often a story that's rooted in real life or, other times fantastical; sometimes an allusion to poetry and other times a relatable anecdote). 

In this episode, Sir Alden shares his stories with us and, by extension, with you. Sir Alden is a maker of stories and, as will be revealed in this episode, a keeper of them too. This episode may have taken a while to churn out, but trust us when we say that this is one of the more heartfelt, earnest, and endearing ones too. You'll surely feel warmth after this episode. 

Anyway, here are some Sir Alden Castaneda seller highlights for you to get a sense of why he's one of our favorite--maybe our actual favorite--seller and "tito" in FPP. 

Happy anniversary to us and thanks for being here to tune back in. Ryan and I have been on a month-long hiatus, not to take time off, but really because work has been relentless. However, we're back and happy to catch-up with each other and with you. In this episode, we cover our personal highlights, look-forward-tos, and leave-behinds, and close things off with the quickest "fast talk" rounds we can muster for each other. Keep listening till the end for our giveaway mechanics, where we're to send off one of Jika's bespoke leather 2-pen cases by the end of April. :)

Anyway, that's all and, well, THANKS so so much for being here and being here for the past year.

Before we get to the description relevant to this episode, Ryan and I thought it important to dedicate a space to important current events and the things we can immediately do to address them: inform and encourage. We want to emphasize that, despite the leisure-related topics this podcast covers, we still are educators and citizens and humans at core; as such, we cannot be impartial.

You are all likely aware of what’s going on in Ukraine right now, what with war befalling them over the past two days, so here are a few credible organizations where we and our audience can extend our help:

Jika took one for the team by being a guest alongside her one and only, Paulu (pronounced "paul-oo"), an artist and film scholar. In our desire to discuss consumerism and love, there was no better way to celebrate and critique these two themes than through an interview of a pen couple. Ryan prepared the cheesy questions, and Jika and Paulu willingly and honestly answer all of them.  

Here are the usual links:  

The amount of times "noob" is said in the thumbnail is no joke, but rather a way to impress upon our viewers/listeners that there are, and have been since 2018, more than 2 pen noobs. This episode's guest is Ronin Bautista of pennoob.com, known for their helpful articles on everything from the Troublemaker Inks duo, pen people profiles,  the Tomoe River Paper ruckus, and helpful fountain pen related lists for Filipinos to find what exactly they're looking for locally.   

We apologize for some lag in both video and audio, but hope that you persist to tune in because there is gold in this conversation. :)  

As always,  

Jika and Ryan   

Again, are some links of note: 

Cuffing season is that period just before or after Christmas/the New Year when people tend to, well, break up with each other. We're hijacking that concept to talk about the things and habits we're breaking up with in preparation for 2022. So, though this is a short one (shorter than most of our episodes, at least), hang tight and keep listening as we cover everything from sheening inks to carbon emissions in this one. Also, happy merry advanced Merry Holidays and a Happy New Year!

Here are some links of note:

Excuse the pun but  Christmas season is upon us and we're here to talk about our hauls and grails. We've never had a grail episode and this is our first, thus marking our characters' development from noobs to noobs-with-grails. Other than this, we also cover the latest Take A Note and Nothing Planners and talk about something we haven't experienced in a while: pen peace. 

As usual, here are relevant links: 

We know we took a while to come back BUT we still cannot contain our excitement over having Harry of @foxscribbler on the show, because we think it's about time to highlight a particularly dapper approach to journaling and curation. Harry and his instagram feed had come to our attention only in the last few months, but we're hooked on his mindfully-created designs and careful selection of ephemera, words, and captions for each post. If you're interested in vintage-looking spreads and calligraphy, with a sprinkle of encouragement, then tune in and be sure to click the links to his social media. 

Here are some links of note from the episode: 

We're testing the new Anchor/Spotify function, so try and answer the question for this episode: What are your unpopular pen, stationery, journaling, and/or planning opinions? We promise not to judge. :3

Halloween, onions, and peaches. This episode is one where we cringe, test our friendships, make butt jokes, and have a few lols over each others' opinions. Mind you, they're nothing too controversial, or maybe they are for people in the pen and stationery community. Regardless, we hope this episode makes you think about your own quirks and opinions from what your prefer and don't prefer.   

Anyway, that's all. The write-up is short, but the episode isn't. Thanks for coming back and tuning in again, Pen Friends! Oh, and happy halloween! :)

Here are the usual links where you can find us: 

With all the Abbey Sy and Paper Society acquisitions as of late, it was inevitable that this day would come when your resident noobs would have Abbey Sy over. In one of our chillest interviews yet, Abbey stops by to talk about her journey, her interests, her businesses, and her community. We might be new to all this pen, stationery, journaling, and planning stuff, but it’s comforting to know that Abbey and her patrons affirm just how open and accepting the community is.

As usual, here are a few links relevant to the episode:

We finally get around to posting this special episode with a dear friend and fellow-pen friend, Unisse of @sushi.plans. Unisse only started her pen-stagram and her Twitch stream at the dawn of this horrible pandemic, but she's already so visible on different platforms and in different niches of the community. 

Some relevant links include: 

Pen Friends!   

Welcome to our 13th episode, a Hobo-How-To or a Hobo [1]101. Though most of you might have already received your orders, it’s only the 17th of September and we thought it’d be nice to give everyone a guide on how to navigate the site and also share our to-buys for 2022.   

If you haven’t put in your order yet, we hope this episode gives you confidence to order straight from the source because, honestly, receiving the magical pink box from Hobonichi after days or weeks of waiting is an incomparable annual experience.   Also, because we want to give credit where credit is due, here’s a bombardment of links to important Hobonichi website pages and product highlights.    

You've been with us for 12 episodes now, Pen Friends!

Half a year of podcasting and we still feel just as noob-ish as we did 6 months ago. This episode is what the title says: a mid-year checkin where we check in on each other, our progress, acquisitions, and any significant changes since the podcast launched in March of this year. We also hint at several wishes/plans for the remainder of the year. 

Point is, we have plans to stay for a while, Pen Friends, but for now, we want to thank you for tagging along and tuning in. 

As usual, here are some links of relevance to our podcast:

Welcome back, Pen Friends!  

As we reach the halfway mark of the year since we premiered, we thought it'd be nice to bring in a few representatives of the youth (a demographic Ryan and I are slowly inching out of). We invited two of our former students, Tots and Franz, who also happen to be fountain pen enthusiasts of various tenures and interests. Tots just got into the hobby and Franz has been in it since 2014 (Yes. 2014! He's been in the hobby for longer than we have). So yes, humbling as it is, we readied ourselves to be taught this time around.   

As usual, here are some links to the products and people and sites of relevance to this episode.  

Welcome back to another special one!  

It's been a long three weeks since our last episode, but we're back and keeping with our promise to release episodes right around [Filipino] paydays! 

You're back and you're here, Pen Friends!

This episode is special to us (then again, when is an episode not?). We've invited a few of our teacher friends, Nicah and Paolo/Swapee, to virtually sit down with us, sip tea, and share tea about what it's like being a teacher and a pen enthusiast. 

We're all somewhat new to this game--give or take an average of 3 years of PENabling across the board--but already have a relative wealth of pens, stories, and advice regarding the hobby. So, as usual, sit back, and maybe flush your pens or journal while listening to this one. Oh, and take notice of how their special English Teaching powers manifest in how vividly they describe their pen collections. *wink*

Here are some of the relevant links for this episode. None are sponsored by the way:

We're back with episode 5, Pen Friends!

If you've been tuning in to the last 4 episodes, you might now be wondering about what to do with all the gear you just acquired. Of course, we don't #PENable for nothing, so we're here to talk about PLANNING as a regular means of maximizing pen-ink-and-paper usage, and as a means to get ourselves and our days in order.

As usual, here are the links to what we talk about in this episode:

Welcome back, Pen Friends!  

This is a bit of a long one but we promise that it's good and meaty. In this episode, we discuss the last two components of a great writing experience: Paper and Inks (PINKS, for short). We get into different paper and ink qualities and quirks, our preferences, and maybe some that could be yours.   

Do note that we make a mistake regarding ink capacities in this episode so here are some **corrective links** that could help clear that up:

Hello again, Pen Friends!

Due to some demand, we dedicate this entire episode to starter pens--the pens that you, well, start with, whether they choose you or you choose them (Yes. We do lean into the Pokemon analogy very strongly in this one). We go into our own starter pens, and make recommendations about other entry-level options. We also go into the various things to consider in choosing that starter pen because, as we always like to say, everyone's pen journey is different after all. 

Additionally, we'll have a giveaway on Instagram within the next few days, so if you want to join and are a Metro Manila resident or have a Metro Manila mailing address, do add us up. We're @thepennoobspodcast :)