Category: Redundancy Review

  • Redundancy Review: Day 2, “Adjusting”

    (for context on what this series is, please see my Day 1 post here: Redundancy Review: Day 1, “A New Beginning” – Rosalia’s Rambles)

    Good morning dalies and mentlegen, welcome to Day 2 of Rosalia Rambles Redundancy Review.

    I kept saying to myself yesterday that now the hard part is ahead of me: actually keeping up with writing this every day and maintaining the routine. My therapist has always said to me that it takes 21 days for the brain to start adapting to a change, so I guess that is the informal goal for myself currently.

    Trying to get back into my previous routine is definitely hitting hard as well. In the days before getting the official news of my redundancy I really slipped in getting out of bed at my usual time – got a delicious mocha next to me to help with shaking off the sleepiness.

    The mood has shifted as well. Whilst in the immediate aftermath I felt a lot of relief of finally having the axe come down; I feel a fair bit of melancholy today. 

    All of my colleagues are insanely talented people who were absolute joys to be around, and while we do have a Discord server for us to stay connected there is a twinge of sadness about the lost potential of what we had become capable of as a company, especially as we were on track to do some amazing things.

    In terms of my job search, I am intending to apply for a Producer role at Jagex today, working on their new game in the Runescape universe. Fully remote with travel into the office 4 days a year for team days, which sounds exciting.

    Also sorted out both my redundancy application and Jobseekers’ Allowance application yesterday as well. Filling out government forms can be extremely demoralising and degrading at times if you ask me, especially when it comes to repeating information across both of them, but whatever can help keep me afloat whilst I find my next role.

    That said, I am available for writing work of any variety still. If you need professional copy, script writing, or bespoke fiction I would love to hear from you and discuss your project – any experience would help me round out my portfolio and gain a better understanding of a wide range of clients.

    Now, time for us to move onto the review.

    “But Rosa! How are you going to ensure you have enough things to review for however long this series goes on?”

    I am very glad you asked, strawman representation of my audience that I just made up. There are two main factors that are going to keep this series going as long as it needs to. 

    The first of which being that I enjoy a massively wide variety of different activities like cooking, card games, video games, music, films, and plushies. I often refer to myself as a “collector of fine things”, and these fine things will ensure I do not run out of topics for review any time soon.

    The second factor being that out of all the things I enjoy, I am not above picking an extremely esoteric item to discuss, which segues us nicely into today’s review…

    Yup, I am reviewing a pot of instant coffee today.

    TrueStart is a brand I have only recently taken notice of, but upon searching out their story based upon what is written on the packaging they have quickly become my go-to instant coffee now.

    For a brief background on the company, they are what is known as a “B Corp”, an accreditation designed to offer distinction to for-profit entities that are striving to have a positive impact on people and the environment, maintaining transparency and accountability. Considering the coffee industry is mainly dominated by Nestle, it is refreshing to see a company actively striving for change within that space.

    That was partially the inspiration for making the switch to TrueStart Instant. I was a prolific drinker of Nescafe Azera specifically, and whilst it went down pretty smooth for an instant coffee I was on the lookout for moving away from the Nestle ecosystem. Cue a trip in Asda where their packaging caught my eye, and I put it in my basket – prompting what is now a permanent change.

    Outside of the care and concern for the environment, TrueStart Barista Grade Instant Coffee is absolutely incredible in terms of taste and strength. As someone who primarily drinks mocha due to the flavour of standalone coffee being a bit too pungent for my taste, I still appreciate a strong hit of coffee within my drink of choice.

    TrueStart definitely delivers this.

    Additionally as well, at least in the Asda where I shop, picking out TrueStart products does not break the bank – especially compared to the prices of other leading brands, letting me enjoy a smooth coffee flavour whilst knowing my money has gone towards a positive cause.

    I think that covers everything I want to talk about today, a bit more of a ramble than what I posted yesterday, but I hope reading it has made your day a bit brighter. Whatever you get up to today, I hope you have a good day. I know you will smash it.

    For more information, and to buy TrueStart coffee, follow this link here: TrueStart Coffee | Feel Good Coffee | B Corp | Carbon Negative

  • Redundancy Review: Day 1, “A New Beginning”

    As of yesterday, 10th June 2025, I am redundant.

    Well, that is a question I have been asking myself for a fair few days after getting the initial news that the company I worked at was in trouble. Even if I saw it coming to some degree it was still a shocking thing to process, but weirdly enough now that I know the outcome I am… relaxed in a way?

    Obviously there is a tonne of stress still to come, from finding a new job to managing finances during this time, though the former is partially why I am writing this.

    One of the things I knew I needed after the axe dropped was a sense of routine, something to keep me getting up in the morning and not just rotting in bed as I would be so inclined to instead.

    That gave birth to this idea: “The Redundancy Review”…

    …I really do like alliteration with R words huh. Anyway, back on track.

    This blog of mine has been dormant for a while, partially because I was busy advancing my primary career of working in production and directing all of my writing energy towards proposals, scripts, and all other sorts of professional copy. Now it is time for me to make a comeback!

    I still have aspirations of being able to work as a copywriter in any industry, so I will be using this blog to build up a new portfolio of work alongside my job search. 

    The Redundancy Review will be a daily article series, written each morning as I eat breakfast and drink a delicious mocha, with the following structure:

    • A brief emotional check-in, talking about how I feel in regards to my situation and any stumbles I have encounter
    • Job search update, any fun roles I have applied for or any opportunities I think are cool
    • Finally, the real “review” part of the article, where I talk about something I enjoy at varying lengths

    I will also be including a call to action in each article, emphasising that I am available for all sorts of work. If you like what you are reading and want to inform me of an opportunity or offer me paid writing work, I would absolutely love to hear from you.

    With the introduction to the series out of the way, let me inaugurate it with the first Redundant Review of something I have been loving to play recently…

    Oh yeah, we are starting strong with this one.

    Beat Saber is a Virtual Reality (VR) rhythm game developed by Beat Games and released in 2019 for Playstation VR and PCVR platforms, and standalone mode for Meta Quest platforms.

    The main objective of the game is to smash blocks with various directional arrows (or dots for hitting them in any direction) in time with a song whilst walls and bombs fly by you, needing to keep your head and sabers away from them respectively.

    I got into it recently as a way of exercising within my home in a way that is more mentally stimulating to me – and it is certainly a workout. 

    Your centre of gravity gets time in by needing to lean your body side-to-side to avoid any walls, whilst your knees get their activity by needing to duck under the same obstacle. Specifically in my case as well, once I really get into a song I can feel my hips swaying and my feet bouncing, dancing along with my lower body whilst my upper body is twisting and turning to hit the blocks.

    My reaction time has also definitely improved from when I started out. Initially I would struggle to keep a good combo going on some “Normal” difficulty songs, even failing a handful of the custom levels I had installed – but now I am able to competently clear a good majority of “Hard” songs and even pushing myself towards “Expert” for some.

    As mentioned above, Beat Saber supports custom levels. These maps are designed by community members and uploaded on various sites, with my site of choice being BeatSaver – Home. My choice primarily includes original songs by Hololive talents and the RWBY OST, with a few mainstream songs in there as well.

    That said, custom levels are not needed to enjoy Beat Saber. Built into the base game is a wide array of original songs, including an entry by legendary power metal band Dragonforce, “Power of the Saber Blade”, one of my personal favourites to play due to its high-intensity note patterns and upbeat energy of the song.

    And even beyond what is already available, as of time of writing, there are 245 DLC songs across a massive range of artists and genres, including:

    • A full Linkin Park pack
    • A full Imagine Dragons pack
    • A full Lady Gaga pack
    • Various iconic internet culture songs, such as Sandstorm by Darude, and Free Bird by Lynyrd Skynyrd

    There is something for everyone in Beat Saber, and with how easy it is to add custom levels on PC I can guarantee if my review has made you interested, something will be out there for you.

    Well, that’s Day 1 of the Redundancy Review in the bag. I hope you have enjoyed reading this today, and whatever you get up to today, I hope you have a good day. You definitely deserve it.

    You can purchase Beat Saber from the following locations:

    Steam: Beat Saber on Steam

    Playstation: Beat Saber – PS VR & PS VR2 Games | PlayStation (UK)

    Meta Quest: Beat Saber on Meta Quest | Quest VR games | Meta Store