Rosalia Rambles

Tag: blogging

  • Redundancy Review: Day 33, “Back to Reality”

    Redundancy Review: Day 33, “Back to Reality”

    (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 workers and drones, welcome to Day 33 of Rosalia Rambles Redundancy Review.

    As the temperature slowly comes back down, the start of my new job comes across the horizon, so this means it is the last Redundancy Review before the title itself becomes redundant.

    My intention is still to keep going with the series, primarily as a form of practice to keep my brain active when it comes to writing and to keep an archive of what is going on in my life. I still feel a deep connection to storytelling and keeping this living journal going means I have a record of how I felt at all times… even if the feelings are inconsistent day-to-day.

    The goal today is to tidy a few final things up, primarily my desk. After the first couple days once the news had hit I stopped using it as a desk and ended up making it a storage space for other things, the vacuum cleaner, boxes, random junk, but now it is going back to being my workspace.

    Hopefully having that routine helps me rebalance my energy, but also things cooling down should help my sleep as well. I think that is one of the main things that is hampering my ability to write some days. I feel so damn tired even with an adequate amount of sleep, and the brain fog just creeps in when my rhythm starts to get there.

    On average, it takes me an hour to write a Redundancy Review – and this is not pure writing time. I will write a short bit, scroll a bit on social media or Youtube, go back to write more, go make a drink, write more, grab some screenshots or pictures for whatever I am reviewing, and then finalise it before publishing on WordPress.

    Which y’know, that on again off again approach does lead to a lot of my reviews feeling rambly, but uhh…

    …look at the website name I guess?

    I am going to skip the call to action for a while, not only to let myself focus on my new role but also whilst my brain tries to find a balance between writing and working.

    Today’s review subject comes off the back of a discussion I had with some friends last night which started because of seeing that the Ferrero Group (most known for Ferrero Rocher) own the manufacturing rights for Crunch Bar in the United States, with the worldwide distribution being handled by evil company supreme, Nestle.

    Which now makes me want to have the Ferrero Group take over production in the UK as well, because I have a very soft spot for Crunch Bars as my non-Galaxy chocolate of choice, partially for their simplicity.

    Crunch Bars are standard bars of chocolate with crisped rice mixed in, though the specific formulation of chocolate means the bar itself is harder than other brands on the market, leading to each mouthful having more bite than you would expect.

    Another reason I was drawn to Crunch Bar back in the day was because they were usually cheaper than other brands – only by like 50p, but as a broke ass student, that small amount of money made a lot of difference in my choices.

    But of course, I have to balance this review out by stating that whilst I enjoy Crunch Bar, Nestle is one of the shittiest corporations around. 

    The fact their Wikipedia page has a dropdown icon under the “Controversies” heading should tell you enough, but seeing that the list includes things such as “baby formula marketing” and straight up “water” paints a clear picture of scumminess. Me wanting the Ferrero Group to take off is basically a lesser of two evils scenario, because at least they have the appearance of wanting to care.

    You know, for being a left-leaning trans girl, it sure took me a while to launch into an anti-corporate rant on this site – done plenty of anti-AI rants, but had not yet railed against a corporation.

    Thank you for reading the last truly redundant Redundancy Review, I hope you can stay cool and hydrated whilst the temperature goes back down so you can enjoy a relaxing Sunday.

    Here is where I would do promotion for my review topic, but fuck promoting Nestle, instead I am going to promote Tony’s Chocolonely, a more ethical brand of chocolate: https://uk.tonyschocolonely.com/ 

  • Redundancy Review: Day 26, “Relaxed”

    (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 dancers and jivers, welcome to Day 26 of Rosalia Rambles Redundancy Review.

    It is a beautifully quiet Sunday morning right now. The day started with rain outside which has now developed into it being cool and cloudy as I wait for an IKEA delivery to arrive, with not much planned beyond that.

    Building on the theme of yesterday being the odd feeling of my redundancy feeling “liberating”, Sunday would always be tinged with sadness slash anxiety due to my burnout feelings – enjoying the day but dreading dragging myself back to my desk on Monday, an emotion that has been replaced with a similar but different one.

    There is still some amount of dread I feel on a Monday, as I mentally gear myself up to go delving on LinkedIn again and look at job postings but in a way it is less oppressive than what my burnout felt like. In a way I have more freedom to structure my day around different periods of job searching and working on different bits of writing work.

    But with freedom comes responsibility, with one of the main things I am definitely struggling with is discipline. I write these reviews every day but I find it hard to keep up with my mind flitting between different personal projects, wanting to tell all the stories at once without finishing any.

    It is something I will improve on as time goes on, although for now I am going to continue to enjoy my sleepy Sunday.

    For the weekdays though, I am still available for writing work and both money & getting experience on professional projects again are insanely good motivators.

    Going to be a straightforward review today as well, talking about my favourite piece of IKEA furniture: the Kallax.

    Whatever purpose you need storage space for, the Kallax can handle it. Easy to build, infinitely versatile, and available in a range of attractive designs, it can fit into any room and any style with ease.

    My favourite feature of the Kallax is how many inserts are available for it, both from IKEA and independent sellers. On my one specifically I have these laser cut stands that are supposed to be used for books, but as you can see from the image, I use them to support a copious amount of plushies.

    Board/card games are also ideal for the Kallax, with many standard sized boardgame boxes fitting perfectly into a Kallax square for a tidy and presentable solution.

    I am not sponsored by IKEA in any way, shape, or form, but considering how much I shill for the Kallax in my everyday life, there would be no greater honour if the opportunity ever arose.

    Short, sweet, and to the point. Thank you for reading today’s shorter review, I am going to go back to snoozing. Enjoy some relaxation yourself.

    For more information on Kallax styles and variants, visit the IKEA link here: https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/cat/kallax-series-27534/ 

  • Redundancy Review: Day 8, “Too Damn Hot”

    (for context on what this series is, please see my Day 1 post here: https://rosaliarambles.wordpress.com/2025/06/11/redundancy-review-day-1-a-new-beginning/)

    Good morning lizards and wizards, welcome to Day 8 of Rosalia Rambles Redundancy Review.

    Summer is here in full force in the UK, and especially the humidity here is not doing me any favours. Makes it hard to focus during the day amidst everything else going on.

    Not sure if it is because of the heat, but I am struggling to write this morning. Everything I do for the redundancy review is off the cuff, nothing is written in advance so it is all my personal thoughts and feelings written out online.

    I think today might be a shorter one nonetheless. I took pride with how much I wrote yesterday but right now I just want to rest a bit more.

    On the days I am doing well though, I can smash through writing like nobody’s business. You can find out how if you decide to commission me for writing work – would not exactly use this as a shining example, but you can check out other pieces in my portfolio if that would interest you.

    The review section will also be shorter, but it will be covering my current favourite breakfast item.

    Right now there is nothing better for me to start my day than a delicious buttered crumpet, and when it comes to branded bakery products in the UK my pick tends to be with Warburtons. A pack of six is relatively cheap from most leading supermarkets here, and they crisp up extremely well with my toaster on its “3” setting.

    Whilst my preference is salted butter, my partner has a bit more of a sweet tooth and chooses to top his with Lotus Biscoff spread, making it a very decadent treat of an afternoon but one that tastes incredibly good.

    In my opinion, crumpets are also versatile in their applications outside of being eaten on their own with a spread – several recipes exist for crumpet pizza online and I have even gone as far to use crumpets as the bread for a breakfast sandwich at one point in time, shunning the conventional muffin.

    Short, sweet, and to the point. Sometimes it is good to stay in the habit even if you do not have much to say.

    I hope you have a good day, please try to stay cool and relaxed wherever you are.

    Warburtons Crumpets can be found in all good UK supermarkets.