Episodes
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...
Published 07/31/22
Published 07/31/22
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...
Published 06/05/22
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...
Published 05/15/22
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...
Published 05/02/22
We begin season 2 with an exploration of the overlaps between our hobbies in the pen and stationery community and content creation. Intellectual property doesn't seem like something overtly related to all the good stuff--journal spreads, pen pictures, shopping hauls, and the like--but, apparently it all is. So listen in on us as we talk about the tea on intellectual property in the first episode of the second season of The Pen Noobs Podcast with Jika and Ryan.  Again, some relevant links:  ...
Published 04/16/22
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...
Published 03/30/22
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...
Published 02/27/22
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:   Platinum Carbon Black on mountainofink  Pelikan M200 Cafe Creme 2015 LE...
Published 02/13/22
At the time of recording, it was Jika's birthday and also the full moon, so what better time to talk about tarot and journaling at once, right? For this one, we invited a familiar face, Unisse of @sushi.plans, once again to hangout, catchup, and share her tarot journaling practice. It's our goal to get Ryan in on the tarot train, really. Hopefully, our conversation makes you consider it and its benefits as well.  As usual, here are some relevant links:  Platinum x Clamp 30th Anniversary...
Published 01/30/22
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...
Published 01/15/22
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...
Published 12/19/21
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:  StationeryCafe.com (formerly WishMnl) on Instagram Take A Note 2022 Planner ...
Published 12/04/21
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...
Published 11/20/21
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...
Published 10/29/21
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...
Published 10/16/21
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:  Abbey Sy's Patreon Page: https://www.patreon.com/abbeysy Skybambi on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/skybambi/?hl=en Starbucks Planner 2021...
Published 10/02/21
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...
Published 09/17/21
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...
Published 08/27/21
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...
Published 08/13/21
Welcome back to another special one!   This time around, we have quite a chat with one-half of the Tokyo Inklings podcast duo, CY. We're sure that, if you're here, you've also already listened to an episode or two or all of Tokyo Inklings.   Their podcast gained much traction last year when they gave us insider info regarding Japan exclusive pens and stationery, and Japanese pen manufacturers. We would not have known about the major Sailor changes and, most recently, the Tomoe River Saga if...
Published 07/30/21
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!  Ryan and I have missed each other very much this school year, since we don't get to hangout much in online school anymore, so we dedicated an episode to catch up with each other and check in on our journaling and planning, well, plans via a mid-year techo kaigi session. This episode is largely inspired by @thestationerycafe's somewhat recent...
Published 07/16/21
Hallo, Pen Friends!   This episode is one we've been keeping for a while (we recorded it in May!) because we've been waiting for the right time and we’ve been finalizing our formats for our now-upscaled bi-monthly releases. As the cold open shows, we're really really REALLY excited about this one.   Since Episode 7 was about Noobs, this one features experts--an expert: David Parker of Figboot on Pens.  We've long idolized David for his dedication to fountain pens and the fountain pen reviews...
Published 06/25/21
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,...
Published 06/11/21
Let's end May with some journaling, Pen Friends! Since we already covered planning in the last episode, this one was inevitable. As our summer break comes to a close, listen or watch us wax sentimental about the humble and personal beginnings of our journaling journeys and our current journal-specific habits and line-ups. Oh, and we talk about how journaling complements our mindfulness practices too. Again, here are the links to what we talk about in this episode: Adventure Denali on...
Published 05/27/21