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.

I planned for my #novel to be set in autumn of 2021, with the characters getting ready for the 2022 Beijing Olympics. But with this whole covid situation I think I will have to postpone it until the next Olympic season. :)

Yes, I'm lazy, and don't want to write the pandemic into my story.

And setting it in 2025 means I will have to recalculate the whole chronology, calendar wise. 😶

I hear that Trump said he's the second popular person in the world after Jesus Christ. Is that true, did he really say that? :)

I'm getting really tired of people who feel they are entitled to ask me to do work for them for free, who are not even my friends, and who then get offended and act all terribly hurt when I refuse.

Hel-looo! You're not family, you're not a friend, and the fact that I sometimes do volunteer work does not mean that I'm now fair game. Hire someone and pay them. No free labour. No grounds to feel offended.

Some people behave like entitled little shits, seriously.

Just saw a woman in a sweatshirt with a caption that read: "I just want to live in peace, plant potatoes and dream."

The pretty girl at the cash register at the electronics shop was giggling and obviously thought I was flirting with her.

Which, well, I was. *gg*

Bought that 8" Huawei tablet without Google services. Decided not to register with Huawei, either, and installed almost all apps from F-Droid and some via Aurora.

What can I say. It's cheap and not very powerful specs wise, but it's fast. I wonder if that's because there is no Google stuff on it. Would not surprise me, tbh.

On a side note. What is autocorrect trying to tell me by changing "poetry" to "porn", and "drunk" to "fuck"?

The blond woman in blue dress and handcuffs is Vera Polozkova, the author of the lyrics.

https://youtu.be/m4x5WjseZFM

I decided that my second MC will be inclined to reciting poetry when drunk. So today I spent almost all my lunch break searching for a suitable poem. And discovered Vera Polozkova.

It's not that I haven't heard of her before. I've even posted once a link to a music video for a song that was written to her lyrics (and she played a lead role in it!). However, I've never really saw her as a poetess. And turns out she writes excellent poetry.

My drunk MC will be reciting Vera's poetry, def. :)

Corporate bureaucracy is something marvelous.

You know what bugs me most about the "Yuri on ice" soundtrack?

Original tracks that support characters' short programs in the narration are just a bit over 2 mins and not 2:50 as they should be. 😆

But seriously. The music is nice. The anime itself is excellent. I feel so inspired. :)

It also seriously irritates me, when a user says: "I have a problem with my computer!" and then proceeds to write an essay on why it is so important to them that the computer works fine. I get it, okay, that's what I'm here for. But could you please describe in a bit more detail, what the problem is exactly?

When users complain that they have a problem with Outlook, I often want to respond: "There can be no problems with Outlook. Outlook is the problem."

Oh, and by the way. I have deleted my Russian Twitter account, which I've had since 2009.

I was surprised at how easy it was to do, emotions wise. As a sentimental person, I often have problem letting go of things that used to hold meaning and emotions.

I think that Twitter being what it now is has successfully killed all pleasant memories and associations. So, pulling the plug was surprisingly easy.

I think I have fallen in love with olive oil.

Sorry for pirating, I had no choice. 😅

Suddenly have the urge to re-watch "Yuri on ice". :) It might be a bit too sweet at times, and Russian characters behave... um... weird. But the drawing is excellent, movement of skaters look very realistic. And... well. :) I miss #FigureSkating so much. 😢

I'm hoping so much and looking forward to @pixelfed developing the way to import from Instagram.

I've abandoned it long ago, but I have photos and events of my life there that I'd like to keep. Otherwise I would've deleted the account long ago. I do not have the app installed, I do not use it, but I cannot delete it, either. :(

It's awful that the tech giants choose to be evil. Really awful.

Facebook is being sued for allegedly spying on Instagram users via unsolicited use of their mobile phone cameras. The suit has been filed last week in federal court in San Francisco.

On multiple occasions people have seen their iPhones' warnings that the camera is being used, when they were not actively accessing it.

Facebook denies everything, says it was just a bug and a false positive. Does anyone believe them, though?