Alexandra Soroca 🎹 @SeventhMagpie@mastodon.art

Revised #introduction to reflect the state of my languages. 😋

I'm an amateur classical #pianist. Started learning properly at 34 and still going strong. Love Frédéric #Chopin. Admire Arthur #Rubinstein and Emil #Gilels, and am trying to model my playing on them (arrogant, I know 😅).

I love #cats and am enslaved to two of them. Love #sea, #sailing ships & books about sea adventures. #NaNoWriMo & fountain pens enthusiast.

I speak #Russian, #English, some #Romanian, and now study #Italian.

Dear neighbours. Anyone else, operating phrases like "Russian trolls", "kremlinbots" and other general dehumanising concepts, please step forward, so I could block you. Thank you in advance and sorry for the inconvenience. I'm not having this shit again here. There's Twitter for that.

The USA is looking to ban Chinese social media apps, including TikTok. Pompeo says that otherwise you're risking getting "private information in the hands of the Chinese Communist Party."

I wonder when are they going to ban Facebook and Twitter? For getting, you know, private information in the wrong hands.

@pollomostro Sorry to bother you again, but since you're the only Italian I know, I have nobody else to nag you. :)

Could you please advise me some Italian radio station(s) with exclusively Italian music and some talking (preferably no politics, news are ok).

Also, could you maybe rec me some Italian instance, so I could read its public timeline and maybe follow someone?

I need practice. :) Learning languages requires practice. :)

I try to behave as usual, as if nothing is going on. Try to keep in mind the overall situation and be as normal as possible.

But it's not easy for me, and by refusing to talk about it she's only making it more difficult.

Is she busy? Is she ashamed? Is she tired of me?

I'm starting to imagine all kinds of disastrous things that might've happened, and it doesn't make me any happier.

It's just my luck to always meet the non-transparent people. :/

I have a feeling that I. is avoiding me.

I tried talking about it twice, but last time she said she was not in the mood to talk serious stuff, and so I dropped it.

I know that she has been hit hard by the whole covid situation, and is going through tough times. The not-being-paid-for-two-months kind of tough. I even tried once to offer help, since I was not impacted and can afford it, but she just laughed it off. Money is a sensitive matter to her, so I didn't push.

My sister sent me this photo of a portrait of herself that one of her patients in the hospital drew for her. :)

Children have always liked her. I remember how several years ago she used to ride to the hospital on a motorbike, and the kids would wait at the windows to greet her. Probably because none of other doctors rode a bike, and it was so cool to them. :)

I was absolutely sure that today was Thursday. 🤔

And then some ass insults me because I say that I prefer to stay at home rather than fly somewhere in the current conditions and have to basically live in that mask.

Is something wrong with me? Or is something wrong with them?

Somebody just called me white trash for saying that I won't be flying anywhere until the pandemic ends and restrictions are lifted, because I can't stand wearing a mask and gloves in the airports/airplanes for ~12 hours.

I kind of... don't understand.

I sit at home all alone since March. I wear a mask when I go to get groceries, as required. All my communications are basically limited to Internet and Telegram. I can't even get regular control check for my eyes.

Word "furbo" (sly) was easy for me to remember, because it reminds me of a "fur ball". 😆

One of the feeds I follow elsewhere recently had a story about people playing in orchestras, and how they see themselves.

And all of them agreed that when one starts playing in an orchestra, they are totally equalled with their instrument.

I particularly liked an anecdote one girl told from the time she played in a school orchestra.

One day somebody she didn't know asked her something like: "Are you a boy or a girl?"

She didn't quite catch the question, so she responded: "I'm clarinet."

Is it just me, or does anyone else find the term "social distance" in the context of the current pandemic to be stupid?

I mean, social distance is the difference in status between my company's CEO and me. But in a shop queue it's physical distance we're talking about, is it not?

No energy whatsoever. No desire to do anything. One page of the Italian textbook literally by force, and haven't touched piano in two days.

Tomorrow is the national holiday, so I don't have to start to work at 9 am. Which might result in my staying in bed until noon.

I can go outside, but almost everything is closed. I cannot go to a concert, I cannot go to a cafe, I cannot go to a music shop.

I have this insane urge to travel somewhere, but everything is basically closed, too.

Fucking virus

Construction works have been completed in Berlin Brandenburg airport, and it's set to open in October. 😮

And it only took 14 years, wow. 😆

I made a donation to the local animal shelter. Other cats need to live, even if mine is no longer with me.

My beloved cat died today.

We had been fighting tongue cancer since late February, and we lost.

I had to agree to euthanasia to stop his sufferings. It was quick and peaceful.

He would've turned 13 in 3 weeks.

My dear kitten. My delight. Be happy up there on the rainbow, where all cats go. Maybe, some day we'll meet yet again.

I still can't believe it, oh my god...

And I honestly don't know what were the creators thinking when cooking up this piece of shit, suggesting that living in an orphanage would be better than living in a loving family. Oh the horror!

And it's so good to see that it did not work. That means there's still hope.

The plot is rather simple.

It starts in an orphanage, where a smiling women says how great that day is, because one of the boys is being adopted into a new family. Then a man comes in, takes the boy. They step outside and meet the second parent - which is another man. The boy's face falls, the woman from the orphanage gets angry.

And a slogan: "Would you choose this Russia?"

And it's so brilliantly dumb, that #YesIWould (#ДаВыберу) starts trending on Twitter. With art, thoughts etc.

Covid pandemic has delayed referendum on amendments to the Constitution. It was initially scheduled for April, but was put on hold.

Among others there's a suggested amendment that would recognize marriage as being only between a man and a woman.

Now that a new date is set for this summer, campaigning has begun. And to support a marriage definition being put into the Constitution, some... eh... very talented agency has made a video advert.

That has backfired spectacularly.

I suppose I will be removing myself from social media until America sorts out its issues and calms down. I don't have the resources to support you.

Best of luck to everyone.

You know what? I *love* "Gentleman Jack".

I've seen seven episodes, only one left, and afaik there's no season 2 yet. But I can say that it's the best film about lesbian relationships I've seen so far.

That's probably because it's based on a real story. It doesn't leave a plastic taste in my mouth like "The L word', where I can almost see screenwriters ticking off hot topics.

This one is real. It has no less important topics, but they flow naturally. Plus great cast.

Can't wait to see more.