Rosalia Rambles

Tag: life

  • Redundancy Review: Day 19, “Seeking Familiarity”

    (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 burgers and fries, welcome to Day 19 of Rosalia Rambles Redundancy Review.

    Yesterday’s review was quite fraught with emotion and sadness with the time after having me feel very out of it and a bit spacey, wondering what was going on.

    Then I remembered something.

    We are coming up to the start of the month.

    I am a transgender woman, and have been on estrogen for the last three years now. It is undeniably one of the best things for my mental state/happiness, similar to every step I have taken when it comes to transitioning, making my life actively better.

    But, obviously, it does come with some side effects. The most notable of which is the development of a monthly “cycle” for myself similar to what those with a uterus experience, commonly referred to as “periods”.

    Now, I am obviously lacking in one biological aspect when it comes to it, and that means I do not have to deal with anything related to blood or pads – a fact I will always be relieved by. That said, I do deal with a majority of other symptoms too, including:

    • Extreme fatigue
    • Irritability
    • Cramps in the torso region
    • Mood swings
    • Brain fog

    So, yeah. My mind is currently flooded with hormones and that is why I was catastrophising things so hard yesterday, it is actually incredibly hard to think straight when my brain is being like this, so reviews might look a little different until things settle down again.

    I did have at least one rational thought during the day, which was thinking about how I have been seeking comfort in familiarity recently, be it video games, food, or old gaming Youtube videos. There will be a time where I elaborate a bit more on this, but right now the brain fog is too strong so I am going to push through.

    Despite the issues going on right now, I would still love to be hired for live writing projects. When I am in a rhythm and routine I can push through the period brain to continue to make beautiful projects, and I would be elated to have the chance to work like that again.

    Part of my activities yesterday was going shopping at Sainsbury’s with a friend of mine, getting the chance to do a big shop at a location I do not often have the chance to go to – a lot of my friends have offered to go shopping with me at all different places to give me company or help me out… it is really appreciated, especially on days when the loneliness gets hard.

    That is unrelated though, the main thing I found at Sainsbury’s was an old favourite drink of mine.

    Califia Farms is an American brand that specialises in plant-based milk alternatives, which includes a range of coffee drinks – my personal favourite of which is their “Mocha Almond Latte”, which feels weird to say cause I associate “mocha” and “latte” as two different drinks, but considering how nice it tastes I am not too bothered with the semantics.

    This specific drink has been very hard to find lately, and whilst I was initially hyped to see it again I think the recently reviewed Galaxy Mocha Frappe powder might have overtaken it as my cold coffee drink of choice. It goes down smooth enough, but I think I have been spoiled by being able to make barista-style drinks at home.

    It is providing my much needed caffeine boost early in the morning, but right now I think the main thing I appreciate it for is the convenience more than anything else, the ability to just open the fridge and have a massive amount of cold coffee ready to go. I know that sounds exceptionally lazy, but when my brain is this bogged down in emotions and hormones, it is the little things which help a lot.

    Shorter review, for a brain short on juice. Thank you for reading all the same, I hope to soon be back to providing the high-quality content you all love.

    For more information on Califia Farms, visit their website here: https://www.califiafarms.com/ 

  • Redundancy Review: Day 18, “Emotional Flip-Flop”

    (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 dreamers and memers, welcome to Day 18 of Rosalia Rambles Redundancy Review.

    Despite a sleepy start yesterday, I pushed myself to go to Asda with my partner to buy some supplies for dinner. The humidity was killer, but I knew it was the right decision to go outside and have a walk. 

    Keeping in the routine has been hard, especially with how my headspace has been lately. I have been sleeping in harder than I have meant to and that means the review comes out later than usual as well. Whilst the routine is still there, the adherence is definitely slipping.

    I have talked about it a lot in previous articles, but there is still a fair amount of hurt over how things have played out – every time I think I might be close to starting to heal past what happened, something else crops up or my mind reminds me of things and the pain comes back.

    It is hard to reconcile what I want from my career right now as well. I am exceptionally skilled in Quality Assurance, and I have admiration for the idea of going into a senior role to act as a mentor for newer QAs, to share my stories in the hope of building their careers in the way others have for me.

    My production credentials are strong, at my first time on the bat I managed two projects simultaneously for an American pharmaceutical company, delivering on time with a healthy budget. This is not to mention how many times I stepped in to help manage other projects when other producers were on leave, even with the missteps I made.

    I demonstrate my love of writing every day, even on days like today where I keep tabbing away from the document and focus on something else. I have several instances of using my writing skills in my previous role, from creating proposals for a wide range of clients, to writing scripts for several different project types.

    But… I do not know which path to take.

    Here is where I would usually do my call to action for wanting to work on live writing projects, but today is going to be a little different. If you read my story and have any kind of career guidance for me, please get in touch. I have the skills to pay the bills but I need some help with what direction to take.

    The review today returns to “Rosa Eating Her Way Across Shrewsbury”, with my all time favourite cafe in town, a cozy little venue known as “The Ploughboy”. My partner and I tried it on a whim one day, where it quickly became our favourite spot for cheap but wholesome eating.

    Yesterday I got my standard meal, with one small addition to keep me going to the evening – a sausage, bacon, and egg sandwich with hash brown added to it for extra density, paired with a large mocha.

    There are no real frills with this one, and that is exactly what I like about Ploughboy. A homely meal prepared quickly for a reasonable price, which at £7.15 for the sandwich and £3.20 for the mocha made this one of the cheapest full offerings I have reviewed yet.

    The egg was cooked perfectly with a runny yolk, the bacon was at the perfect consistency for me with the fat cooked properly but the meat itself not being overly crispy, and the crunchy hash browns added the right amount of padding to make this basic brunch last me till the evening without breaking the bank.

    Ploughboy is a simple joy for me in town, and a place I return to time and time again.

    I am going to call it here for today, as I have gone from rambling to waffling very quickly. Thank you for reading this edition of the Redundancy Review, have a relaxing weekend whatever you do and enjoy time with your loved ones.

    For more information on Ploughboy, visit the link here: The Ploughboy Cafe | Original Shrewsbury

  • Redundancy Review: Day 17, “Sleepiness”

    (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 duvets and pillows, welcome to Day 17 of Rosalia Rambles Redundancy Review.

    You would think with the fact I had a late night on Wednesday that a part of me would consider taking an early night yesterday to make up for it.

    Then the Capcom spotlight happened, where it took until the end for the Monster Hunter Wilds trailer to appear. It was definitely worth it though, and watching the entire showcase was actually rather enjoyable.

    However, this means I am absolutely knackered this morning – to the point I think I slept through all of my alarms without meaning to. It is always difficult to write these on nights where I might not have had as much sleep as I needed, though it is weird that today is one of those days when I slept in so hard.

    As I was drifting off last night I had ideas of a topic I might want to cover in these mental health check-in segments, but when I started plotting it out in my head it feels like it should get its own spotlight piece, so keep your eyes open for that. 

    Yesterday I also showed my mentor this website as we were catching up on the work search, and her advice to me outside of complimenting my work was “get that bloody book out there”. When we worked together we often chatted about the kind of life I have had, and how it would be interesting for me to write it in a semi-fictionalised way, marketing it as the slice-of-life story for this generation.

    (if you are reading this Gabi, hi!)

    It is something I have considered as I work on different projects throughout the day. My main area of interest has always been sci-fi & fantasy epics, telling tales of massive worlds and their conflicts or trials, but considering the amount of events I have lived through and maturing as a trans woman in recent years, it is a very valid idea.

    For anyone reading who might want to help make these ideas reality, consider getting in touch and hiring me – creative writing is in the forefront of my mind currently. I would love any and all opportunities to work on live projects which could help fund my other ventures.

    As most unemployed people do, I spend a lot of time on LinkedIn. Looking for opportunities, using the job search tool, and lamenting the course my life has taken when I’m wading through AI-generated content that no one has bothered proofreading. 

    The one that always stands out in my mind is one that said “Avoid these 14 game design zombies!”, with the main content of the post then saying it was 15 game design zombies, but then the also AI-generated image does not count up to 15 and it is missing several numbers on the way to 14. LinkedIn is full of these posts now, with the only fringe benefit being that I am very good at spotting GPT-speak right now.

    Outside of job searching though, LinkedIn does actually have a series of five puzzle games currently, with my personal favourite being the subject of today’s review.

    Zip is an extremely simple puzzle game on the surface, but the amount of complexity that can be packed into each day’s offering always surprises me.

    The premise is straightforward: get from the number 1 dot to whatever the final dot is for that day. Today’s puzzle was getting to number 8 but on previous days it can go as high as number 24.

    There is always something satisfying in challenges that go from point A to point B for me, it ties in with my love of building infrastructure in video games – paths, roads, and other means of transport make my heart sing with joy, so a puzzle game that abstracts that to its most basic form was sure to be a success.

    It is so much fun that it is engrained as part of my routine now alongside writing these reviews, and it keeps me checking LinkedIn even when I might not feel up to wading through the mess of AI.

    With that, we come to the end of today’s review. Thank you for reading, I am going to go have some coffee and brunch – consider treating yourself to something similar, it is Friday after all.

  • Redundancy Review: Day 15, “Patch the holes, change the parts”

    Redundancy Review: Day 15, “Patch the holes, change the parts”

    (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 teas and coffees, welcome to Day 15 of Rosalia Rambles Redundancy Review.

    After having a somewhat terrible Monday, Tuesday was… up and down.

    One of the high points was getting to take care of my parent’s axolotl, Dottie. He is the second axolotl to have been in my family, with my axolotl Cedric being the first.

    Cedric was a very interesting character, she was quite upfront and social with me, even trying to jump into my hand on a few occasions when I was feeding her – doing so by hand as I had always done. Dottie is a bit more of an introvert though, he did not seem too interested in food and did not fully come out of his log while I was visiting.

    Yes, the axolotl with the male name was female and the one with the female-coded name is male. There is a metaphor in there somewhere.

    But in between talking to this not quite there salamander I was dealing with shit relating to my redundancy payouts, primarily around my unpaid wages and holidays. The company handling the administration is very opaque and obtuse, very rarely providing advice in advance, instead choosing to react whenever myself and my colleagues light fires under their arse.

    This was most prevalent in them not sharing the information/formulae used to calculate what holiday we have taken and what our weekly rate of pay is. Once presented with the information it made sense, but it feels weird that none of this was communicated upfront. There is a chance I will name and shame the company once this process is over, I do not exactly have “clout” or anything to make change, but it is part of my story.

    Main thing is I am finally getting paid what I am owed, which will help with finances for the foreseeable future and keep me in a position where looking for my next job does not make me too stressed out.

    If you reading this would like to make my next job working for you on a writing project, please consider getting in touch! My skills are slowly improving every day and the ability to work on real projects would only accelerate my personal growth.

    So, regular readers of the review know I am a big lover of food with many of my reviews taking me around various Shrewsbury eating spots. Today’s review is about food, but something a bit more closer to my original home.

    I have mixed feelings about my hometown, a very quiet village known as Codsall. The quietness and quaintness still have their appeal, especially living in a very busy town nowadays, but at the same time there is very little unique there for me now, highlighted further with the local butcher shutting down due to rising costs.

    However, one place is still around for me, and it is a place I will always make a pilgrimage to each time I need to return.

    Birches Bridge Fish Bar is one of two local chip shops, and in my opinion the vastly superior one. Both have been around since I was little, though Birches holds a special place in my heart as it was the regular haunt after my usual Saturday Warhammer 40k (later just card games) club for a filling lunch.

    One menu item in particular always draws me back, and it is in the picture above: the Birches Burger. A double cheeseburger topped with onion rings and the salad & sauce of your choice, my usual picks being onion, cabbage, jalapeno, and garlic mayo for an almost spicy coleslaw-like topping – paired with a regular sized portion of chips to give me a throwback to being fifteen again.

    It is your standard chip shop burger. Thin patties with a slight crisp to them due to being cooked in a press, topped with plastic cheese, and placed into a lightly toasted bun. There are no illusions, no fancy additions necessary, just a dense sandwich that brings immense comfort.

    However, I do have to highlight the chips though. Birches’ chips always hit hard for me, maybe partially out of nostalgia but something in my chips yesterday sang to me. I forgot to check the signage before I went in but it is around the time of year when chip shops start to serve new potatoes for a short while, and they definitely tasted like it. An almost buttery taste to them, only amplified by the addition of salt and vinegar.

    Now for the price: a Birches Burger sets you back £5.50 for the burger alone, and adding on a regular portion of chips is £3.40, bringing the total cost of my meal to £8.90 for yesterday. Looking both at local Shrewsbury chip shops and other takeaways, I would actually struggle to get a meal of that quantity for a similar price…

    …of course I have to factor in a £13.50 train ticket in order to get to Birches nowadays but I am purposefully choosing to ignore that in this context.

    Even outside of the very reasonable price for the one meal I had yesterday due to the sheer size, the familiar comfort that eating a Birches Burger once more brought to my soul helped ease the wounds of the last couple days, refilling my morale and letting me tackle the challenge of unemployment once more.

    That does it for today, hopefully I have not made you too hungry after writing all that (I certainly have made myself hungry). Whatever you get up to today, remember to eat hearty meals that bring you joy and keep you going throughout the day. I hope you have a good day, and I will see you tomorrow.

  • Redundancy Review: Day 14, “Bandaging Bruises”

    (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 scrappers and brawlers, welcome to Day 14 of Rosalia Rambles Redundancy Review.

    Yesterday sucked.

    It sucked really hard.

    The Jobcentre was of minimal help to the current situation, only being able to give me the phone number for HMRC and telling me to take it up with them – which got sidetracked when I got home and found an email from the Insolvency Service saying part of my payout had been denied, a situation many of my colleagues found themselves in.

    I was in a foul mood cause of the meeting, and this discovery only exacerbated things for me, to the point I sent a very strongly worded email to the liaison officer handling the company about what I had encountered along with how furious I was at their conduct throughout this process.

    Considering we got a response, and I specifically got a letter I should hopefully be able to take to the Jobcentre, we definitely lit a big enough fire under her to get things moving… did not stop her making two fairly egregious errors in my letter initially though but that is me being a bit sour still.

    This entire process/journey I am going through right now has been extremely hard on my psyche. Part of the Redundancy Review’s origin is trying to make the best out of a bad situation by using my time to stay in the habit of writing, but that is still what it is: a bad situation.

    Having to go back to the Jobcentre is humiliating, especially as I have been in regular work for the last four years. Explaining my situation over and over again reopens any wounds I thought might finally be healing. Every time I have to deal with bureaucratic bullshit to get what I am owed I feel a reminder that the life I knew has fallen apart.

    But I can not stop. 

    I will deal with whatever necessary evils I have to in order to get what I need. I am a fighter through & through, a head-first problem solver in all scenarios, and a bloody stubborn person to the core… however difficult that last one has made things for me sometimes.

    God that felt good to get out early in the morning.

    There is a positive for myself to look forward to today – I am axolotl sitting for my parents. They are currently galavanting around Europe so I need to go back to my childhood home to not only take care of a gosh darn cutie, but also water the plants in my mother’s greenhouse, some of which are earmarked for me so there is definitely some urgency there.

    Still have not heard anything back from Poncle yet either. Starting to get a little paranoid that I might have screwed up the application somehow or my passion at the idea of working there was a little offputting. Hopefully something comes in soon, be it an interview request or a rejection.

    If anyone reading would like to help me out whilst I am waiting, I am currently always available for freelance writing work. My emotions go into everything I write and if the above proves anything, I feel extremely intensely about things. Fact or fiction, I aim to introduce passion to everything I write.

    Today’s review topic is going to be another Hololive-based one, but instead of reviewing a group’s version of a song, I am going to be looking at a talent’s original creation.

    Mori Calliope debuted in the first generation of Hololive English, “Myth”, and has been one of the most prolific members of the organisation behind the now-graduated Gawr Gura. From multiple partnerships across different organisations to performing at her own solo concerts, she has really made the most of her time in the company.

    When it comes to her music though, I am usually of a split opinion – either being incredibly impressed with how a song fits her voice or feeling that she might be trying a bit too hard.

    None of my worries come through with Lose-Lose Days though, in fact I think it might be the best song she has ever produced in her time with Hololive.

    It is her love letter to the other members of her generation, having been released around a month after Amelia Watson graduated and the meaning of the lyrics only amplifying in the wake of Gawr Gura graduating earlier this year.

    Considering in the early days Calli struggled with her role as an idol, most notably using a higher pitch in her voice to appear more “cutesy”, seeing her talk about some of her struggles through this song is rather impactful.

    “I was all bark no bite

    Fighting with God

    When it got dark at night

    The hours got long”

    To me these lyrics speak to Calli trying to find her place within Hololive, working extremely hard to make an identity for herself and possibly coming off a bit abrasive in the process. She is a notorious workaholic in the company so I can fully envision her working into the long hours of the night.

    The core message of the song though is her development of her friendship with Myth though, a fact highlighted by a gorgeously animated video by an artist known as DuDuL, someone who rose to fame via Hololive fan animations and his involvement in the community is shown through how many easter eggs are laid around for Holofans to find.

    The first two choruses end with the line:

    “If I got you, I might just stick around”

    This reflects on the song’s overall message of her friendship with the rest of Myth, and how that friendship has kept her around, but the final chorus ends off a little differently:

    “I’m gonna smile and make

    You guys

    Proud”

    A frankly beautiful change of wording that caps off a song about personal development in a very heartwarming way, only amplified by her final message written to the rest of her genmates, emphasising that no matter what happens or how things change; they always have their accomplishments together as Myth.

    I chose this to review today because of how yesterday went for me. It really did feel like a lose-lose day but I am going to try not dwell on it, I am just going to bandage my bruises and go out into today trying to make the most of it.

    Thank you for reading the next milestone edition of the Redundancy Review, we have now hit the two-week mark, and my momentum has no signs of stopping just yet. Enjoy today, and if for some reason your today is hard, you always have tomorrow. Be safe out there.

  • Redundacy Review: Day 9, “Keep On Keeping On”

    (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 roadrunners and coyotes, welcome to Day 9 of Rosalia Rambles Redundancy Review.

    Yesterday was definitely a day of me not feeling myself, but after a relatively early night and a long lie-in this morning it is a different story today. Having a brief hangout with some good friends at a coffee shop also helped my mood a lot – social connection is helping me a lot through this time.

    We had a somewhat in-depth conversation about the nature of career growth, and how it has really shifted over recent years. There is obviously the ever-looming issue of Generative AI in today’s world, especially when it comes to the creative arts, but in general I feel there is another “indie renaissance” taking shape right now in all sorts of industries.

    With big budget gaming going on the way it is and new IP in film struggling to make an impact, there is a lot of space forming for smaller scale teams in collaboration with contractors to make creations that create more impact with audiences.

    In a way, that is part of what inspired me to restart my writing work… even before getting hit with the axe. There is a disclaimer on my Home page that no Generative AI content will be hosted on this site, with the two main reasons being:

    1. I have integrity when it comes to my writing as my art
    2. I firmly believe human creativity and collaboration wins out every time

    Having tested ChatGPT once or twice, primarily as research into its capabilities, my main impression was being surprised at how well it can string a coherent story together from a prompt… but that was where it ended.

    What it pumped out felt soulless to me. It knew the beats of a story and how to put it together, but there was no love behind those words – no passion for the subject other than regurgitating what it could scrape off the internet.

    Emotion is what drives my writing, my lived experiences and mental misalignments come through in my work no matter what the subject is. It is the core of my writing identity and what I feel differentiates me from a GenAI tool. I try to convey the feeling behind my words each time, be it pain, joy, or absolute fury.

    Nonetheless, it is a scary time for creatives, especially in writing. But I will keep doing what I do, writing from the heart every day about the things going on around me and talking about things that bring me joy.

    Keep on keeping on, as it were.

    (I have been playing way too much Death Stranding lately)

    If my impassioned speech against the use of GenAI writing resonated with you, why not consider hiring me for a writing project? That barely restrained fury is not the only emotion I could bring into your work, and I would love to collaborate with other people on projects too.

    With a nearly full page rant against the current state of creative writing done, I think it is time to move onto the review. 

    Disclaimer: despite me wanting to pay for my friends at this cafe, the product I am reviewing today was received for free. Price will be considered in the review all the same.

    When meeting up with my friends yesterday, we started in Shrewsbury Square and were intending to see where the vibes took us. In a Discord conversation one of them had mentioned a venue known as “Daily Brews” as one they liked, and with it both in close proximity & being entirely new to me, it felt like the perfect choice.

    Given how extremely hot and humid it is in the UK, a cold beverage was on the agenda. They did have iced latte and whilst I was craving a caffeine hit but it did not speak to me.

    Cue my delight then when I decided to look over the milkshake page of the menu and saw that any milkshake can have a shot of coffee added to it for £2 – adding that to a chocolate milkshake gave me my usual mocha.

    First off, the glass it arrived in was extremely fancy, being almost like a full goblet. Whenever I picked it up I felt my hand automatically adjusting to hold it in an appropriate way and it made me feel powerful when I did… even if I was drinking a caffeinated milkshake at the end of the day.

    The glasses were not all the same though, so it was sheer luck that I got this one. Regardless, bonus points for the glass.

    The milkshake itself went down perfectly, being extremely chocolatey and refreshing in the heat. The thickness was ideal as well, not getting clumped into the straw at any point, keeping it smooth to drink without any awkwardness.

    Whilst my body definitely responded to the coffee shot I had put into it, it was not exactly the taste of coffee. When it comes to adding coffee to chocolate-based items there is an art in adding enough not to introduce the flavour of coffee, but to enhance the richness of the chocolate instead. This was the case here, which I do not consider a negative point against the milkshake, just a reflection of my taste.

    As for the cost, this was definitely more on the pricey end, even when considering luxury milkshakes in Shrewsbury, though it is with the coffee in mind.

    A base milkshake is £4.90, which I think is a reasonable price for what you get, especially if you get a fancy glass as part of the deal. That said, I think £2 is a bit much for a shot of coffee, especially when in my milkshake I could not taste the coffee all that much. 

    I do intend to return to Daily Brews though, and try more things out soon.

    That covers everything, thank you for reading the Redundancy Review today. I hope you keep cool wherever you are and have a relaxing day where you can.

    For more information on Daily Brews, visit this website: Daily Brews | Original Shrewsbury

    (for some reason Google says it is permanently closed… really hope it did not shut forever one day after I visited xD)

  • Redundancy Review: Day 7, “Milestone”

    (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 frontrunners and backmarkers, welcome to Day 7 of Rosalia Rambles Redundancy Review.

    As I mentioned yesterday, I tried adjusting my alarm clock forward by an hour to hopefully get some extra sleep in as I get used to a different/more flexible routine…

    …the problem with that is my body is so ingrained in my old routine that I ended up waking up around where I usually do anyway. Decided to use the extra hour of sleep anyway but I think it might be a while before my body catches up with what I want to do.

    However, we have cause for celebration today: I have now been writing Redundancy Reviews for a week!

    It definitely feels good to have been in this rhythm for a week now, even if the time of posting is inconsistent there is a certain joy I have experienced in getting to tell my story one day at a time. I still need to get into the rhythm of writing fiction again along with other types of articles I used to do, but having my portfolio grow brings a lot of positivity to an otherwise tough situation.

    If you want to help me grow my portfolio even further, I am available for writing work as always. Want your own topic on the Redundancy Review? Perhaps a custom fiction story? Do not hesitate to get in touch.

    So far we have had food, drink, and video games as topics for the review – today I am introducing a new category into the mix, whilst also getting to talk about one of my primary hyperfixations.

    I.

    Love.

    Hololive.

    Ever since coming across HoloEN Myth back in the tail end of 2020 and going into 2021, I have become obsessed with Hololive – and I do mean all of Hololive. What started with an introduction into EN led me towards JP and ID (Indonesia), exposing me to so many different talents with varied styles.

    There is so much I can talk about when it comes to Hololive things, but today I am going to be covering one of their original songs, the anthem of the 4th HoloFes: “Our Bright Parade”.

    But not the original version, I am covering HoloEN Advent’s production of it.

    Ever since their reveal, I fell in love with Advent. What started as admiring Shiori’s outfit turned into feeling a connection with her as she talked about loneliness in some of her early streams. 

    This then built further as Bijou/Biboo revealed her to be a total memelord, Nerissa being a very relatable and funny personality as she yapped on stream, and the in-sync compilations of Fuwamoco sealed the deal: they found a place in my heart as my favourite gen.

    Their version of Our Bright Parade was released almost a year ago now, and up until that point it had been difficult to find translated lyrics for the song. Even without that though I could always get the feeling of inspiration from the song, about always marching on through hardship with the positivity that these stories can bring.

    I was extremely glad to discover that this was the case with this official translation, and upon re-listening there are a lot of lyrics I emotionally connect with given my situation. In the intro there is the line:

    “A new journey awaits

    Just hit reset and we can start again”

    And following onto that is the first chorus line:

    “When disappointment gets in your way,

    Love will shine, keeping you safe”

    These lines speak to my current situation a lot, as everything that has happened has reset my life a lot, but simultaneously, the love of my friends has been a massive force in keeping me going. 

    That is me getting distracted though, and talking about my own emotions relating to the song.

    Everyone’s performance here is immaculate, and to me it helps reinforce Advent’s generational vibe of a group of misfits who have come together to become a found family. They harmonise perfectly but every member is distinct when they are singing together, with special mention going to Nerissa’s vocal performance though – she has an incredible singing voice and I love hearing it.

    In the second chorus, there is a line that I have used a lot in the last few months, especially when considering the news cycle around Hololive:

    “Rain or shine, I’ll treasure our kaleidoscope sky”

    It has been a difficult year to be a Hololive fan thus far. In the midst of a lot of celebrations and massive projects being undertaken there was a seemingly regular flow of graduations (retirements) for a good couple of months, leading to a fair bit of doomerism in certain parts of the community.

    That is to not downplay the feelings of a good majority of people though – these talents weave stories that a lot of people can relate to, and knowing they will not be around to continue that story can leave a lot of worry and sadness in someone.

    But in the midst of all those graduations, along with having some doubts myself, I listened to Our Bright Parade again, and that lyric stood out.

    Hololive has inspired me to be better, the stories I hear about give me courage to improve myself and to never give up, like so many of the talents have done themselves. Even in the darker moments, I will treasure the memories I have made, and when the sun shines bright I will celebrate what they have accomplished.

    Plus

    She is so fucking cute oh my god.

    That was possibly my longest review segment to date, especially when compared to how short the preamble was. I hope it translates a small fraction of the joy I feel for Hololive. 

    With that, we come to the end of today’s piece. Thank you for reading, whatever you get up to today I hope you have a great day and can find some relaxation where possible.

  • Redundancy Review: Day 4, “Uncertainty”

    (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 friends and foes, welcome to Day 4 of Rosalia Rambles Redundancy Review.

    Yup, I am going to be writing this even on a weekend, even if I did slip a little bit on my wakeup routine and slept in an extra hour.

    There is not going to be any job search update news on weekends, specifically because I intend to try and keep weekends to myself unless a seriously good role appears that I will make the extra effort for.

    Got plenty of mental state stuff to ramble about though, so I will launch straight into that.

    What is taking its toll the hardest right now is the waiting, or as the title suggests, the uncertainty. Currently I am waiting to hear back from a handful of jobs I am pretty excited about, but also waiting for the government services to get back to me with news of either my redundancy payments or my unemployment benefit.

    I have never been good at waiting personally, the sense of anticipation that builds when I know something is coming usually puts me into a state of limbo until the thing arrives.

    Uncertainty is not just coming into play when it comes to waiting though. In general recently I have had a lot of self-doubt creeping in, both in regards to jobs and my writing. It usually comes as a result of tiredness and my brain becoming overactive in regards to how I perceive my writing.

    In the end, I am doing this for myself more than anything else. Writing is a passion, and one of the best pieces of advice I have ever seen in relation to art in general was “don’t let it die inside your head” – which is my intention as I get back into the groove of things.

    That said, I continue to be available for writing work. If you want fiction, fact, or fun topics covered with my writing style, please do not hesitate to get in touch. I would love to get involved with people’s projects.

    So yesterday I reviewed some local food, and today I will be reviewing another local place but instead covering a cold, refreshing drink.

    During lunchtime yesterday my partner decided to treat me out for a milkshake, and in Shrewsbury there is only one place we go to for it: Simply Sweet.

    It is actually a fairly recent addition to the lineup of independent businesses in town, having only opened a year ago, but in that time it has become a firm favourite place for its varied offerings in terms of both milkshakes and desserts.

    Specifically I usually go for what is known as an “Out of this World” milkshake: Milkyway, Mars, chocolate sauce, and coal dust. This goes down extremely smoothly, the mix of chocolate bars and ice cream blended together make a rich but not stodgy drink – especially welcome as the weather heats up.

    I also have to give a shoutout to the owner as well, he is an incredibly genuine guy who always seems happy to see us as regulars, chatting happily about what we have been up to and how he is going with the business. His attitude about working for himself shows through in the quality of his work.

    In terms of price, Simply Sweet does position itself more at a higher end, with my regular sized milkshake being £6.50, however I feel this price is extremely worth it given the quality of what you receive.

    That covers everything for today, more concise for weekend reading. Thank you for taking the time to read today, and whatever you get up to today I hope you have a good one. 

    For more information on Simply Sweet, visit their website here: https://simplysweetshrews.com/

  • 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