Alexandra Soroca 🎹 @SeventhMagpie@mastodon.art
Pianist. [Occasional] fiction writer. Sea, salty wind and sailing ships lover. Junior Figure Skating fan. Cat lady. 🇷🇺 🏳️🌈
Now, suppose it's time to make #introduction :)
I'm an amateur classical #pianist. Started learning properly at 34 and cannot imagine stopping any time soon. Love Fryderyk #Chopin. Admire Arthur #Rubinstein and Emil #Gilels, and am trying to model my playing on them (extremely arrogant, I know 😅).
I love #cats and am enslaved to two of them. Love #sea, #sailing ships & books about sea adventures. #NaNoWriMo enthusiast. Love fountain pens. :)
I'm not a great #football fan, but... :) In my Twitter timeline there are three tweets in a row, one by one: from Denis Matsuev (pianist), Vitaly Petrov (racing driver) and Oleg Artemyev (cosmonaut currently deployed to the International Space Station), all celebrating Russian victory over Spain. Especially #Matsuev. :)
It's the first time in history we've got so far as quarterfinals! It's... wow! :) 🇷🇺
Suppose I will stick with the"Independent Publisher" #WordPress theme for now. It doesn't always look and work the way I'd like, but that's nothing a child theme won't solve. Right now it's possibly the closest to what I'm looking for.
She, who has not read the manual and followed it accurately, then has to spend an hour and a half troubleshooting and fixing her website instead of playing #piano.
Can't help but wonder when the #Wordpress theme designers are going to realise that it's 2018 and the majority of displays are widescreen these days. When the content takes up about only 1/4 of screen width, it doesn't look exquisite or stylish. Honestly.
Yes, I'm still looking for a simple & clean theme for occasional blogging. :)
I wish people stopped asking me why I haven't emigrated to some "good" country yet. This is a very stupid and offensive question, and it makes me feel deeply embarrassed. And then I need to say something light, joke it off somehow and try not to look like a fool or a loser or both. The fact that I know languages doesn't mean I want to leave. The fact that I do not consume alcohol at all doesn't mean that I'm suddenly The Other. It's ridiculous, seriously!
$ sudo dnf install happiness
Looks like simple one-column #WordPress themes for small blogs have ceased to exist. Have been looking high and low for two days, but still nothing. Not even something I could heavily customize via a child theme.
Whatever happened to personal blogging, anyway? Modern WordPress themes are not designed for that, or so it would seem. Too much clutter, to much flashy stuff, huge images everywhere... Whatever happened to simplicity, not to mention minimalism? Ugh!
Yesterday my #piano teacher texted me to share great news. One of her private pupils passed exams and got accepted to the state music school, and straight into the 2-nd form.
The girl is 11 and previously was rejected by several art schools, as she was deemed too "old" and not talented enough.
For the last 3 years this is the second time that her pupil was able to break through. The first one was a girl who started at 13. Now she's 16 and recently has won a young musicians' municipal grant.
Why did nobody tell me that #Twidere was already capable of starting from where I left off on Mastodon timeline. Also, a combined timeline with Twitter account(s). Also, automatic day/night switch that works correctly.
*uninstalls Tweetings, uninstalls Tusky*
I can do it. I can do this and more. I can do anything I put my mind to. People can laugh at me all they want. Truth is, I can do something they can't. I have already achieved more than those who didn't even start because they think we're too old to learn new things. One day I will play that Ballade. Maybe even all four of them. It's not too late. It's never too late. #PositiveThinking
#Koss UR20 has disappointed me. I've read so much praise about it. And there's a digital #piano picture on the box, so I gather they target electronic instruments' users as well. Can't say anything about that, as I don't own an electropoano. However, a real piano off of .flac recordings sounds dull and unclean in this headset. And then my head starts actually hurting. Such a shame.
So far, nothing sounds better than my #Sennheiser CX180 plugs which I've had for at least 8 years. Weird but true.
A woman sitting right in front of me on the bus is talking to her husband on the phone. Asking him not to leave, saying she wanted to save the marriage, saying she didn't want to just throw away all the time they've spent together, asking him to say something... I felt so incredibly awkward, that I had to put my headphones on and turn the music on. I don't think that such conversations should be carried on in public. Or over the phone, for that matter. So awkward to witness. So sorry for her.
My sister took this photo in #Khabarovsk. That's one brazen #pigeon at a street cafe. It kept walking around the tables waiting for food, totally unafraid and at ease, and it didn't even take off when my sister came up rather close to make a shot.
*knocks over recycle bin* 
*plays with a deleted file* 📄 
Today was a rather quiet and unstressful day. Well, except for a 1 hour power outage in the morning and a server that didn't come up after that, which I didn't notice for several hours. :)
But I digress. :)
So. A nice sleepy day, very relaxed. And at some point, when I was moving around the office, I caught myself humming unconsciously along a very familiar melody that kept playing in my head. So I stopped and paid attention.
And it was this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nu48Z45ibxQ
Wanted to leave #Opera browser behind - and couldn't. Removed it yesterday, and installed it right back today. #Firefox proudly displaying my browsing history on the front page feels a bit like waving my underwear around. Express panel with permanent tiles I can easily control is the best start page variant for me so far.
Lots of #musicians see playing #scales as a chore. Personally, I like scales. They help me calm down and get the mind in order after a stressful day at work. I'd even go as far as to say that scales might have saved my life once upon a time, when I had an extremely abusive boss and couldn't quit the job. Playing scales helped a lot then. #piano
Some hour ago I had a moment of weakness. I contemplated leaving my virtual hosting provider of almost 10 (ten!) years. Yes, I am deeply ashamed now. It's just... I thought that because of the indecent RUR/USD exchange rate, I'd be able to find a better deal with local providers. Turns out, my old personally tailored plan is still the best offer. I'm really sorry, hosting guys! I won't doubt you ever again.
Trying to keep as far away from Twitter and all news sites as possible. There's so much hate towards #Russia during the World Cup, that it makes me feel personally attacked. I bet most of those people have never been to Russia, but still they keep spewing hate. Looks like big events just bring out the worst in people. Thank God it's quiet here.
