Dear readers,

I'm Tiana, a Canadian friend of XP who has been living in Rotterdam since November 2022. Since then, I've been visiting their space quite frequently. Coming from the dark depths of a Canadian suburb, I've been so happy to be living a "15-minute city" life this year, and having XP nearby has been the biggest blessing.

Since meeting the Extra Practice crew in the winter, I've been grateful to be spending time with and getting to know them... I still feel like I have so much to learn about each of them! Making friends in adulthood can be challenging. Meeting a person deeper into their life, you have decades of information to learn about them.

Yet, the older I get, the less friendship becomes about information and the more it becomes about simply sharing a warm, reliable kindness with each other… but even the most mundane fun facts about our friends can say a lot about why they are the way that they are. Uncovering the origins of the friends you make as an adult is an exciting and curious pursuit.

One thing I'm a bit bummed about is that I don't know who my friends (who I've made as adults) were as children. So this month, let's meet the kid versions of the Extra Practice squad.

I used to always order the Coke or Pepsi books from scholastics as a kid (a North American phenomenon). I have such sweet memories of filling in these playful questionnaire books with my close friends as a kid... I liked seeing them iris in, making decisions about their interests and opinions. So, in the spirit of those memories, I've asked the Extra Practice folks to fill in a fun survey about their kid-selves.

Favourite kind of pastry?

Sausage Roll from Greggs, a bakery chain throughout the UK that are somehow known for their medium quality produce in an endearing way.

How do you relax?

Logging onto MSN and chatting with my friends. Updating my Myspace profile with the newest and saddest music I can find and then always playing Call of Duty with my friends online.

Dream job?

“I want to be a computer maker when I grow up” - a phrase taken from an 8-year old self portrait and bio I made in 1999.

How many hours per day online?

1-3 hours a day surfing the web

What do you do on rainy days?

Sit in one of the polytunnels that my parents grew plants in and listen to the rain whilst pretending that I was living in a star wars inspired future and that I should duck for cover once in a while as the empire drove past.

I wasn’t necessarily a bad child when growing up but there were just certain things I cared about and certain things that I didn’t care about. It was usually reflected in the teacher feedback that I got from the school teachers “Ben needs to apply himself more”, “If you tried harder you could do well”…..However, I think my true passions were being on the computer or Xbox at home, skateboarding down hills with my friends and surfing. I applied myself in these activities to the point where in some cases they might have taken over a bit.

I guess not much has changed, but perhaps I’ve learnt to balance things a little bit more and if I don’t care about something I try to figure out why that is and also not let it get in the way of me doing it anyway. I feel like my kid self would be happy in some ways for how things have turned out. I am trying to make computers (sort of) and I do have a playstation, I think he would be happy about that. But for the rest of the stuff I do I don’t know whether he would really notice.

Photo: Two dogs. Where's Ben?

What do you do on rainy days?

Build a lego castle or something that my little brother will play with and maybe destroy but that’s okay then I can build something new

Can you identify constellations?

Big and small pan

What was the last thing you ate?

Slice of bread with two types of jam (strawberry and apricot) and cheese (cow and goat), split into four pieces to make every possible combination of jam+cheese

Any pets? (+ names)

No my mum is allergic and my dad thinks a pig or turtle are not fun!

Dream job?

Open a sandwich restaurant

To be fair, going through the questions was a little confronting. I don’t really remember who I was as a child. I always thought of my kid-self as just shy and nerdy (see photo) but then I later got surprised to see myself act all goofy in front of the Sony Handycam. Framing my kid self as nerdy was probably a way for my teen self to try to distinguish itself as cool. But if my kid self would see myself now, what he has grown into, he would know that the nerdy never really went away. Kid Gijs would quite clearly recognise a continuity from his way of dealing with bread toppings to my current passion for compasses and other grids.

Photo: Classic Gijs.

What is your name?

Emma

How do you relax?

Drawing or playing The Sims

Dream job?

Writer + illustrator

Best kid movie?

Pocahontas

What scares you?

Karbonkel (iykyk)

My kid self had different sides.. she was witty and chatty at home, but extremely shy in public (for a long time her kindergarten teachers assumed she couldn’t speak). She loved barbies and mermaids but she was also a little nerd messing with her dad’s old computer & camera gear. I think she had a strong bullshit filter from a very young age, she didn’t trust clowns or school photographers trying to make her smile.

Instead of being social with other kids she preferred drawing with her sister at their big table at home, but as she got older she became more social. Her main way of connecting to others was through making things together, like videos, plays, songs, newspapers or fake businesses, and in those moments she was most confident and present, and happy, and not shy at all!

And I think that is still my favourite way of connecting, in fact it might be all I need in life?! But I also still have that shy, asocial side in me, and often find myself retreating from XP for a few days and doing my things at home, and I recently rediscovered painting at my big table. And I love both Emmas :)

Photo: Emma on picture day at school.

How do you relax?

What’s relaxing?

Dream job?

Inventor

What was the last thing you ate?

‘Midnight feast’ raisins and popcorn. When friends stayed over we were allowed a midnight feast but my mum kept it healthy so they were always pretty disappointing.

What do you do on rainy days?

Moan about not being able to skateboard, make challenges up on the sofas.

Who do you admire most?

My Sister Lizzie

I was always going over to friends' places or having friends over “to play” which usually involved making something. Either food, like inventing a new milkshake. Or trying to invent some new toy. We made a hovercraft with a leaf blower, a sit down bike with an old BMX and a home-made broken go-kart. I was also super into The Beano magazine and you could buy stink bombs and things for pranking or forging and I would often buy these things which we would unpack in my next door neighbour Rachaels treehouse. I was really into armies and had a lot of army themed parties in my garden. I did a lot of different activities when I was young, tap-dance, guitar, acting, karate, cricket, rugby, tennis. Later on if it was dry on the street me Henry and Dan would always be skateboarding out on the corner.

So not a lot has changed ha. I often think that when things are going well now they are usually aligning with what made me happy back as a child. Making things happen with mates. Maybe my kid self would just wonder why I no longer like armies and what happened to all the make believe clubs and business that I started back then.

Photo: Jack at tap dance class.

Dream job?

Artist or pro football player, preferably both at the same time. Around this age I was really getting into drawing comics (under the name ©K-comiX) and architectural plans of dream houses with absolutely no sense of proportion. Football happened mostly on the streets, it was not until the year after that I was finally allowed to join a club as well.

What scares you?

Tbh many things, but most of all Karbonkel – a classic among Dutch kids from my generation. For those that don’t know, Karbonkel is a puppet from a TV show that we were obligated to watch at school about learning to read and write. Haunted me for years after. Click if you dare.

How many hours per day online?

Zero. So far I believe all I did on a computer was play games on CD-roms, such as “Putt-Putt Goes to the Moon” and “Op Wereldreis”.

Any pets? (+ names)

A goldfish with a white snout called Bluppie. My sister had one called Snuffie, which is an odd name for a fish but okay.

Best kid movie?

The Lion King. I had the soundtrack on CD, the poster above my bed and Simba bed sheets – the VHS itself I was able to borrow from my older cousin every once in a while, which made it even more exciting to watch.

Some things changed (no longer fussy about vegetables, foods touching and all that), some things not (I still hardly ever go anywhere without pen and paper) and some things seem to return to how they were twenty-some years ago (haircuts and wardrobes). Less shy, but still socially clumsy. More wise, but still plenty to learn.

I think little Kirsten is pleased to have become that professional artist of sorts, one that can decide when to work and when to take a break and maybe even kick a ball around the court behind the studio. However she must be very shocked to hear that her Ajax-uniform is now stored away in her Rotterdam(!) apartment.

Photo: +/- 8-year-old Kirsten in 2001.

Favourite kind of pastry?

Tim Hortons Apple Fritter

How do you relax?

Lay upside down and pretend to have a talk on the phone.

Any pets?

My puppy Charlie. My late hamsters Prince Charming and Herbie…

What was the last thing you ate?

Kraft Dinner with hot dogs in it.

Your biggest question about life?

Is it as cool being 16 as it looks in the movies? When will I get my letter to Hogwarts?

I’m really not that different than I was as a kid. When I was a kid I thought at some point you become an adult and everything about being a kid fades. But I still want to play and dance and not work. I’m certainly better at socialising. My mom only recently told me that she used to bring me to summer camps and such early because I wasn’t good and injecting myself into social groups that already seemed to be established. I remember thinking that once a social group was formed, there was no way in. I’m not sure why I was so shy and insecure! I still remember one day at summer camp a kind little girl came up to me and asked, “Do you have any friends?” and I said no. She said, “I can be your friend!” and I was so relieved. I wish I remembered her name. I think I have an address book somewhere with her email. I wish I kept in touch with her. Anyways, now if I’m not being social, it’s just because I don’t feel like it. I’m not sure when that shifted… maybe late into university. Moving provinces for university really forced me out of my shell.

I think she would be happy that I’m still a playful kid in my heart, and that I remember being her. But she’d also be a little sad that I’m not more like Lizzy McGuire. Like, I had visions of pink convertibles and flip phones… something really glamorous. But I don’t present very glam that often, although I am inside. I’ll keep working on the presentation… Although I am glam inside, I tend to present quite comfy-cozy in my fashion.

Photo: Tiana on her birthday in the sunroom with friends.

TRUE SELF FILM FEST @ EXTRA PRACTICE

Join us for free on August 27th at 17:00 for the first irl screening of True Self Film Fest! 
Hosted by Tiana (me:)), and co-hosted by XP members.
Let's have a cozy indie-short-film night. BYOB/Snacks/Blanket. 

Please RSVP!

A Sunday Sites session will take place the same day from 11:00 - 13:00.

Thanks for having me as a guest writer this July! I apologize for the late send. It's been a month of adventures. I had a lot of fun with Emma, Gijs, and Ben at Naive Yearly recently. Most of my energy was being put into that experience. My presentation lives on this website: tiana.land/naive

August might be my last full month in the Netherlands, as my permit comes to a close on October 3rd, and I plan to travel in September. It's been such a blessing to live near XP over my time here... I will miss my friends at XP dearly but we will meet again soon. If you're based in NL and want to hang out while we can, email me: tianadueck@pm.me

Warmly,
Tiana

P.S. If you liked this you might like my personal newsletter Windy Day.