Alexandra Soroca 🎹 @SeventhMagpie@mastodon.art

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.

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 speak #Russian, #English and now study #Romanian

If somebody says they hear voices, it doesn't necessarily mean they've gone off the hinges. That person might simply be a #musician.

But then again. Maybe it's a sign that I don't really need a new suitcase? Who knows.

May cannot come fast enough, that's all I know for sure. :)

So... I decided that I needed a new suitcase, to compliment my spring vacation and replace my old Chinese noname one.

Nothing against Chinese nonames, btw. It was cheap, yet it has served me faithfully for several years. It is still good, but I just wanted something new and bright. :)

Unfortunately, I took a fancy to American Tourister Soundbox line.

Their Russian internet store lists prices about twice as high as in Europe, and European stores do not ship this make to Russia. :(

Boo. :(

My #pine forest. :)

There are going to be more. Two more seeds are coming up (one is already pretty much up).

I cut all attempts to contact V. starting January 1. New year, new life, and all that jazz.

Today she texted me. Out of her own volition. Not in response to anything. Made the first move, just like that. About something that is vaguely associated with me (or rather, my unfinished novel).

I honestly don't remember when was the last time she initiated a contact. Or was always me.

And now I'm kind of at a loss about what to make of it.

Today the weather was so nice, that I decided to forgo the ice arena and try the outdoor rink by the local school instead.

I'm not a great fan of natural ice for skating, tbh. :) It's pretty uneven and too hard compared to ice at the arena. Skating on edges becomes difficult.

But. It's outdoors! :) And people begin gathering somewhere after 3 pm, so in the morning you can pretty much have all the rink to yourself.

Day pass is ~ $3 for adults, $1.5 for kids.

All in all, I had a good time. :)

And here it comes, the first #pine tree from the second wave. Another one can be seen at the bottom right. Hoping for the best. :)

Nocturne No.14 fis-moll has been playing in my head whole day today. I even sang it quietly (I think) while waiting in queue in supermarket this morning, clutching a pack of tomato juice to my chest. A guy next to me was looking at me strangely, as if contemplating if he should preemptively beat me over the head with a long loaf.

I hear that all musicians are a bit touched in the head, yes. :)

Third wave of seeds is waiting in the fridge. :) There are 12 of them, and they come from a fresh #pine cone I've taken from the forest this autumn.

I'm going to plant a pine forest! *gg* The more pines the better! :)

I don't want to destroy the cone, though. :(

Meanwhile, the second wave of tree seeds planting has already brought me some results.

This time I took 10 seeds from the last year's crops. I bought them at the food market (you should've seen the seller's face) and, frankly, didn't expect much.

Keeping in mind that I only have one baby #pine from the first wave, I planted 5 seeds a pot.

This is what I have so far. What am I going to do when more than one pine a pot comes up, I honestly do not know. :)

"Stay away from the edge, or else you might fall," my teacher said. "I probably need to draw a yellow line there."

She was talking about black keys I was playing too close to the front edge. So I needed to keep it in mind to put finger(s) a bit further along the keys' length, so that I won't accidentally slip. :)

Calling all #Romanian yet-unknown-friends. :)

Could you please recommend some good books or short stories in Romanian? Preferably (seriously) something that can be downloaded. Authors?

I've been reading some fairy tales, but I'd like something written in modern language.

Comedy, adventure, steampunk would do. Nothing dark, please. I love happy endings. :)

Sitting at my desk, looking at the Pilot #Iroshizuku #ink set. Trying to decide, which colour I want this time. :)

In my next life I shall be a bird. A magpie. :) Or maybe a seagull.

The cat is chewing on my diary. What is he trying to convey, I wonder...

That was the worst place I've ever worked at, and this is saying something, considering the fact that I used to work in a call centre at some point.

The bullying was empowered by the boss, who loved to humiliate people herself, so other employees took it as an example of what was allowed.

The people I worked with chose me as their target, because I was different. I was the Weird One.

And now, several years later one of them thinks that everything is okay, that we can be friends. The hell?!

In the grocery store ran into an ex-colleague from the previous work. Or, rather, she ran into me, and it took me some time to remember who this person was.

She was behaving all friendly and nice, smiling, asking about my life and all. And I couldn't help but remember how I used to spend lunch breaks hiding in the bathroom, crying. How they mocked me for my love for classical music. How once I feared physical violence after I quoted #Bulgakov.

And now she behaves as if nothing ever happened.

Am I a bad person for being annoyed by people, who write emails with lots of exclaimation marks, demanding something to be done urgently, but giving no justification or reason whatsoever?

I mean, I don't have resources to just drop everything and get to your problem, just because. Unless the building is on fire. In which case call 112 and get the hell out of it.

I have a dream. I want to play all of #Chopin's waltzes.

The worst thing about #Google analysing my search history in order to serve me relevant ads is that it keeps tabs not on a particular user, but on the machine.

This way, if you have, say, a shared computer in your household with several personal accounts, your whole family will know anyway what you've been up to - via adverts they will see.

And this might, and have in past, lead to conflicts and even scandals.

#Privacy