19. 2020 Recap

ep 19 2020 recap descript

[00:00:00] John (2): [00:00:00] Welcome to Episode 19 of Stationery Orbit  where we all come to learn more about creative letter writing. I'm your host John West. And this episode is my 2020 recap show. 2020 has been a challenging year for everyone everywhere. I know that everyone lost something last year. And if you have, you may have even lost everything.

It isn't times like these, that we don't have to pull together and at least be there for each other. You may not have an answer for it, how to help someone else, but you can always lend a sympathetic ear. I know that all of us are yearning for the days ahead in 2021, when we can go back to normal work, when we don't have to wear a mask around all the time.

And when we no longer have the spectra of a global pandemic hovering over us, I would like everyone to emerge from this global crisis. With the new nerd level view of the world, what is a nerd level view of the world? It is a simple level of empathic understanding for everyone around you. Take your worst in middle school.

When you just knew that everyone around you [00:01:00] was judging everything about you and you felt at your most awkward, you know, when you were one of those nerds. Well, someone out there is having that day to day. If you know that person, you don't have to fix anything for them, but put yourself in their shoes for a second and then be an understanding ear for them to talk to.

And if needed a shoulder to cry on, I know there are more precise ways to talk about our differences, but I am a simple person and I prefer simple words. I also like to think of all the ways that we are alike. I like to think that all of us are a nerd in one sense or another, we need to be there for our nerd.

Brother-in-law. Once all of us, except our nerdiness and other's nerdiness now with the sense of one-upmanship, but with an acceptance of our differences. In other words, don't yuck someone. Else's yum. Try to remember that as much as you struggle through each day, everyone around you is going through that same struggle just in their own way.

[00:02:00] Not everyone deserves your time, but you make yourself and your world better by showing everyone kindness. Anger is the punishment you give yourself for someone else's mistakes, kindness, and forgiveness to others is not a gift to them. It is a grace that you use to make yourself a better person. That is the way the geek shall inherit the earth.

Okay. Geeks let's roll. 2020 has been a weird year and at times a really bad year, but sometimes adversity helps us realize the need for change. In an age of zoom calls and seemingly always available working from home. Many of us have needed a way to slow down. If you're listening to this, it's likely you turn to analog tools and boy, there are a lot of them out there.

Are you a pencil person? There are more and better pencils now on the market than there were. When we were kids. The same goes for pens and paper and found pens. [00:03:00] Hashtag forget about it. Thanks to the massive resurgence in the interest in fountain pens and the upsurge in manufacturers and nip grinders.

If you're just getting into fountain pens, the world is your oyster. You can buy just about any kind of stamp or wax seal that you want. And if you can't find it, thanks to Lily's retching, it won't cost you a King's ransom to get a custom one made my building attitude towards stationary in 2020 is why I felt the necessity to start this podcast.

There is so much out there for us to do now. So many ways for us to be creative, that even an engineer got into creative letter writing, and this podcast has shown me that there is even more for us to do so for 2020, I want to thank all of my guests, everything we learned about paper from Virginia and John, all of the inky, goodness from urban and Becky, they glimpse into the world of nib grinding from Kirk.

We even had a visit from Penn royalty when Brad graced us with a wave of his name, Miki [00:04:00] and all of the letter writing and mail art ideas from Amanda, Jenny, Joanna, and Tim. I also want to thank my first patron Todd, who has believed in me almost from the start. So what did I do in 2020? It's hard to believe it.

I ran the Mercedes marathon on February 16th, 2020 in Birmingham, Alabama. That has been a long time in a long amount of running ago. As many of you did. So did Colorado. We had our shelter in place from March 26 through April 26th. I reopened a PO box in golden after 30 years after I did so in college, I got to see fireworks in Nebraska for the 4th of July.

I tried spear fishing lionfish in July. I bought my Leonardo momentos zero and Jonathan Brooks, primary manipulation in July. That was a buy. Finally got to see Sammy Hagar, his birthday bash in October. [00:05:00] Thanks to COVID-19. I switched back to an iPhone in October, which was a real surprise. After two or three years with an Android phone, I got into folded nib writing.

I actually started swabbing some of the massive number of ink samples. I have. I started learning actually relearning, cursive writing and writing from a proper right-handed angle. And I required a pilot eight 23. This time with the broad nib that I bought in December. I've asked my guests about what artists they follow and do amazing work that the stationary lovers out there and need to learn about.

And I'm going to share some of my personal favorites. Brian Kissinger on Instagram does amazing Calvin and Hobbes and star Wars. Mash-ups. If you want to know who the cat is behind the well-appointed desk, you have no further to look then Lucy of [00:06:00] totality on Instagram mentioning cats. I would not go any further than to look for hashtag Siberian cat for all the fluffiness and cats you can ask for, for amazing, really amazing calligraphy.

Look up sub Leicester on Instagram and it's at S E B L E S T R. Another amazing artist. That's out there. With her own take on nerdiness and pop culture and star Wars and everything else at Karen Hallean art on Instagram. And finally they mix up of art and katz@per.in dot Inc is a great account that has a real unique look at cats and their interaction with humans.

Another question that [00:07:00] I ask, all of my guests is what was their favorite purchase in the last six months? My answer to that question is I bought a Quaker Apple pencil holder in August, and it has absolutely changed the way I use an iPad for me. I use an iPad mini in the newest edition, and in my opinion, it is one of the best reasons to buy one of the.

IPads that uses the old first edition Apple pencil because you can't put the Apple pencil holders onto the new edition pencil where the Quaker Apple pencil holder will completely change the way you deal with an Apple pencil. It gives you the neural grip. It's a lot wider. It's a lot. It gives a little bit of heft to it.

And if you match that up with a really good screen protector, it will change the way you use an iPad. So with everything that we learned in 2020, what's add in 2021, [00:08:00] I owe you a closer look at why wax seals are so cool. Wax seals are a key aspect of letter locking, which we'll also be further diving into in 2021.

And most importantly, Inco rhino 2021 is just over a month away.