I wake up later than usual. The cold has mostly passed, but my mind feels slow.

I play Wind by Gigi Masin. I’ve been trying to only play music locally for the last week. My library is rather limited, and songs loop and loop, but I kind of enjoy this self-imposed restraint.

Rotterdam gets a surprise gift (a snow day) followed by even more in the days after.

The beauty of running an email newsletter with friends is that promoting each other becomes a form of gift giving.

With that and the new year in mind, I’ve asked us all to become “ad people” for one another.

You’ll find the ads we made for each other scattered throughout this email.

What if XP was a multi-sided D&D dice that advertised our services?

Since joining Extra Practice (1 year and 10 months ago), I’ve found myself thinking more and more about my immediate surroundings.

This has likely been influenced by the practices around me: Kirsten and Ben coding in situ, Jack and Gijs driving an entire mini radio infrastructure to Robida last summer, Emma regenerating both farm and table, and the multitude of physical events that happen at XP each year.



Jack's advertisement for Emma. Hire Emma at emmaverhoeven.nl

Influence is a funny word. What does it mean to be influenced? It seems like being an artist these days is often about influencing. Maybe it always has been this way. It feels off to call the members of XP influencers. Maybe we are quiet influencers, or maybe what we all excel at is observing. Being a good observer is probably a much needed quality these days.

Ben's advertisement for Kirsten. Hire Kirsten at: kirstenspruit.com

One inevitable outcome of being observers is that self-promotion often feels icky. I know when I post (pots) on social media, I often feel embarrassed. Here I go again, asking ________  from everyone.