#also if you have a rewards membership watch out:

[irlbop]

Not in food service anymore but my job is in a death spiral currently. Corporate is claiming we aren’t hitting sales the way they were hoping and thus aren’t making money. Which is curious, seeing as corporate had enough money to buy out another chain they will inevitably suck the character out of.

Anyway, hours have been cut to where all my shifts are only 4-4.5 hrs with maybe two or three shifts a week give or take for the foreseeable future.

We are very understaffed, working in a large two-story location. It’s gotten to where many stores in the chain, ours included, will not be hiring seasonal help for the holidays. Which is beyond absurd. So we’re meant to make do with little staffing while shelving, dealing with customers, dealing with constantly breaking registers, elevators, escalators, bathrooms, etc. and so on. We also are promoting a membership program we’ve more or less hit a wall with due to finite interested customers, as well as monthly promotions selected by corporate for financial prospects.

After a point, I remembered/realized that I do more than what people in corporate have ever done that pertains to actually making this company money. Hell, I know how to do more tasks than sone members of management ever learned to do in the decades of them working here.

I’m not getting paid more. So I’m going to give corporate the work worth what I’m being paid.

Even in food service, there is the demand for exponential growth. Each store has a profit target you're expected to hit every quarter. Each quarter the target gets bigger and bigger. The only way to make sure you hit or exceed that target is to increase sales or cut costs. Sales can only go so far though, so at a certain point there is the understandable temptation (not justifiable, but understandable) for your manager to start cutting hours. Once they do, your location has entered a Death Spiral.

The thing about the Death Spiral is it is nearly impossible to escape. It starts innocuous enough, with a few hours getting shaved off every week. And true enough at first you probably didn't need those hours. They were the slack, the extra hands that helped distribute the work and made it easier on everyone. You might not even notice they're gone. Maybe the morning rush is a little harder to handle, maybe there isn't as much time to chat as there used to be. But on the whole nothing has changed. You're still hitting your sales quota and, hey, everyone seems to be working a little harder. That's good, right?

Then the next quarter rolls around. You exceeded your quota. Upper management is very excited. But now your new quota is even higher than it would have been if you had simply performed to expectations. You raise prices a bit, push more expensive drinks, and sure, cut a few more hours. Bit by bit the slack gets tighter. The fat gets trimmed. All because continual growth, continual improvement, is not just demanded, but expected.

The endgame of the Death Spiral is the expectation that every worker will operate at 100% efficacy 100% of of the time, and that nothing will go wrong ever. It never reaches this point, as any food service worker will tell you, shit goes wrong. Service gets worse, you lose a few customers, and you miss your quota. This is the point of no return, because the only way to solve the problem is to add more hours. But there's no way upper management will approve spending more money. On a failing store? Don't be ridiculous. Maybe get those numbers up and we'll consider adding hours back. But the only way to get those numbers up is with no hours. It's a Catch-22. You're trapped. Slowly, inevitably, the store fails, and then closes.

The Death Spiral is a doomed strategy, but it is the one corporations push in response to investor pressure. It tricks workers into more work for the promise of relief later, if they do well and succeed, not realizing they'll only be asked to do even more next time. So how do you fight it? Know your worth. Don't let anyone give you more work without some kind of kickback. Don't fool yourself into thinking that being indispensable will lead to a reward later.

But the best defense? Join a union.

[sweetcarrotsandroses97]

Paradise (what about us?) | JJK | SNIPPET

Pairing: military! husband! Jungkook x engineer! wife! Reader

A/N: Welcome, darlings, to my April's GOLDEN fic! This was inspired by "Paradise (what about us?)" by Within Temptation as well as the video game "Fallout 4" so you can thank my dad he played it while I watched :D I'll be publishing snippets here and there as well as progress on the story. I really hope you will like it and remember you can get access to exclusive fics with my Golden Membership I'll link below! ALSO, the poll I said I'd publish have been postponed because uni has been kicking my ass. That's why I'll be writing this story I'm currently inspired to write. Additional content will be published on Ko-fi

Warnings: apocalypse! AU, war! AU, dystopian! AU, violence, blood, gore, use of weapons, angst, some fluff here and there, survival! AU, married! AU, ft. OT7, futuristic! AU, sci-fi, military! Jungkook (I'm in love), oc is described to be shorter than Koo, more warnings will be added on the fic,

~SNIPPET

The world ended 150 years ago. 

And now, what was left to do was to survive in this new cursed paradise. 

“Have you ever wondered what it was like to live before hell fell upon us?”

“Have you ever wished you had died in the war?”

“Have you ever wanted to live so much like now?”

Those questions were commonly asked. Cruel questions. Questions you didn’t know the answer to. Questions that made you think in a world where you could only act. Where impulses won over reasoning. Where life was considered both as a curse and a blessing and sometimes, neither you nor your husband Jungkook knew if it was worth fighting for a fallen world or to join the dead, for in death there’s peace you’ll never find in this dark paradise. 

Get my GOLDEN Membership for exclusive fics, additional side-content and special snippets. As well as insights of my writing process! Don´t miss out on this opportunity of becoming GOLDEN!

April/16/2024

[wannawritefast]

Poise

A/N: Here she is. Seriously Aro is wicked fun to write and as I told Vas (@vasiktomis) reader/MC kinda ripped the reins from my hands. Is she (as in reader/MC) a lil coo coo bananas? Yes. Did she stretch my abilities as a writer? Yes. Were there times that I agonized over a singular word choice for an embarrassing amount of time? Oh yes. A lot of firsts in this fic for me as a writer. Very proud of myself. Thanks for reading. Also I'm so unserious about Aro. No funky aesthetic gif for this one. He's simply too silly. I also post all my stuff on both Tumblr and AO3. Same handle!

Pairing: Aro Volturi x F!Reader

Words: 6.6k

Warnings: gore (consider yourself warned), implied intimate partner abuse in flashbacks, death (no major characters), arachnophobia, reader has powers having to do with nightmares and is crazy, so is Aro, it’s the Volturi you kinda know what you’re getting into

Summary: After taking matters into your own hands, you swear never to be weak a day in the rest of your eternity. The Volturi can help with that.

“What I am left wondering is why you have suddenly found yourself in want of membership to the Volturi. You denied us quite emphatically those many years ago.”

“I was under a year into my immortality, Caius. You must forgive the blunders of my youth.”

Indeed, that many years ago you had declined their invitation. But that was when you still had your youthful fire about you. In so many years you had traded it in for temperance.

Still Caius narrowed his eyes from the platform. Only two of those splendiferous thrones were occupied at the moment -- a naked helm. Heidi had assured you that Aro was well on his way. That had been 3 minutes ago when Caius had decided to put you on trial for no other reason than him not being present.

Marcus watched on with those ancient eyes. They must have always looked old, you thought to yourself. You couldn’t imagine Marcus’ eyes looking any younger than time itself. And Caius’ eyes -- well… Very well. You’d let him enjoy this silly little power trip. There was something of a cruel smile lifting the edge of his lip.

“I have the time to hold a grudge.”

“Have you nothing better to do with eternity than harbor petty anger? My, my, you truly do not play well with others.” Your eyes drifted to Marcus. “Have you nothing to say, old friend?”

“We are hardly old friends.”

You rolled your eyes, settling your attention back to Caius. “If you’ll excuse me, I shall speak no more until Aro arrives.”

“Why? Are you frightened?” He taunted. Bait, that’s all it was…

“Are you?”

The doors behind you swung open heavily, like a final breath. Four sets of heeled shoes struck the marble. You did not turn even as Jane and Alec walked close on either side of you, like eels as they glided up the platform standing in the background.

Heidi didn’t even so much as brush past you to go out a side door. It was an unusual occurrence to demand entrance into the Volturi especially when a previous invitation had been so rudely turned down. You were certain a number of the vampires along the walls with you were there simply to see what demise would befall you for such insolence.

The fourth set of boots slowly walked up to the direct back of you. There was no body heat to speak for Aro but you knew it was him. The eyes of all the people in the room suddenly on you could not mean anything else. 

“Did you receive a warm welcome?” His voice hit the back of your head and it was no louder than a lover whispering their intentions.

You straightened, your eyes piercing Caius where he stood. “Something like that.”

Aro finished the pace around you. “You are very brave to have come here.” His eyes scanned the walls. He was looking to see if it was true that you had come alone.

“I was hoping it might be rewarded.”

“Hope…” He tasted the word. “Now that’s a word I have not heard in a good while.”

Half of a smile spread across your face. “You’re welcome.”

“Hm.” Aro looked you up and down, amused, before continuing his path to his throne. The three men on the platform finally sat. “And I… well, perhaps I should not assume a thing. Why don’t you tell me why you are here?”

The blonde vampire stole the silence from you. You couldn’t help but think that the angelic color was wasted on him. He would be blonde. “Foolish girl, she’s changed her mind!”

“Caius, I did ask her to tell, did I not?” Aro only dignified the man with a slight turn of his head. He set his jaw and sunk back into his throne a little. Aro’s hand gestured for you to continue.

“It is true,” you responded. As much as it pained you to soothe Caius’ temper via agreeability you were not above it especially now. “I would like to petition for entry to the Volturi.”

The laugh of all the vampires in the room made it all the more funny, you supposed. Even Marcus’ perpetually morose eyes tilted up as he chuckled.

Aro only smiled. “Now my dear…”

“I am aware of my past petulence-”

“Ooh, that was not petulence,” he corrected you, leaning forward. “Petulence is far too generous. You were rude.”

You gulped. It was true. You had been rude those 200 years ago. Very rude. 

Aro continued. “I believe you said… what were the words you used…?”

Marcus cleared his throat. “Allow me. ‘The Volturi are a semblance of order. Their actions are a colossal mimicry of law and the leaders are just as big of fools for as long as they stand if they believe that their offers of entry are anything more than an identification of spinelessness in the subject if they accept such a thing.’” Curse him for his memory. “Something like that.”

His really good memory.

The helmsman of the Volturi raised his brows at that. “Your recollection is pristine, Marcus. My goodness, such scathing words… I had forgotten.”

“‘Go to hell, you greedy fucks’ too,” Caius added, that hint of a cruel smile earlier was now a complete grin. “Can’t forget that either.”

“That last one was not me actually.” A glower from the blonde vampire. “My sire, rest his soul-” I hope he is eternally suffering, “-should be properly credited for that.”

There was a chuckle from all three on the platform, even Jane smiled a little. Although it was better than how you had begun it still was not a good sign.

“Yes, rest his soul.” Aro tilted his chin up. “Whatever did happen to him?”

A test. Aro knew what had happened. Everyone in the room knew what had happened. Or they knew a version. “My coven at the time… handled him and went our separate ways.”

It was not a lie. 

“Yes, I suppose you did handle it.” Aro remarked. “It was startling to hear about, just like that, ripped limb from limb by your coven.” He didn’t trust you. Why would he?

You swept up the steps before him and wordlessly knelt, reaching a hand up. A young woman reaching her hand up to a young man, both centuries old. Jane and Alec stepped forward in warning, flanking Aro’s throne. Your eyes flitted between them. An impasse. Still you kept your hand outstretched to Aro who had taken a small step forward in your approach. Your eyes landed back on him. Please.

Aro regarded you coolly; it was colored by something else though. Intrigue. Curiosity. Hunger. The last time Aro had read you had been 200 years ago; you had so much less control then. You remembered him snatching his hands away from yours as your nightmares, or rather his, had sloppily tumbled toward him while he flitted through your memory. Two horrible truths slamming into one another -- a mutual bruise, the two of you. Your talents were similar, all thing considered.

“You can look,” you whispered up at him. “I am better at this now.”

Something of a warm smile dawned on him, if indeed Aro could ever be described as warm, as he crouched down. His red, milky eyes bore into yours and then, gently, one of his hands tucked under your palm and the other covered your knuckles. You bridled the lightning fast nightmares as the man pushed forward.

Just like the first time it had happened, it felt like nothing more than the pad of a thumb releasing held pages as they rushed for the cover of a book. Aro flicked through two centuries of life in ten seconds, his eyes darting between yours as he passively consumed.

The story had to begin with the truth that covens did not turn on each other. In technicality it was not that it had turned on itself -- just all against the self-declared leader who held all of you in a vice-like grip. You refused to even give him his name in your memory, yet another way to kill him back in a way that truly mattered. 

His inclinations of you showing abilities upon your turning were unfortunately well-guessed. You cursed your sire for the rest of your days for his early but ultimately rare stroke of clairvoyance. With time you would learn that he was no stranger to fear as a weapon either. 

Aro pushed forward, unreadably neutral. The memory of the first time you ever used your abilities somersaulted through your consciousness. You had gone well beyond the bounds of the perimeter that had been set for you by your captor. It was direct disobedience to your sire’s orders and the vampire passing through never saw it coming. The spooking they had done you was a complete accident. Their intentions to take the human body you were feeding on, however, were undeniably loaded with malice.

You had only intended to shoot them a glare but something about the tense moment, about them approaching you with a hand reaching out to what was in yours… that’s what started it. You heard it first, an impossibly low thunder like something far beneath the earth pushing its way up; they heard it too. Your crouch was something feral when you did it and the nightmares that crashed into that poor vampire tumbled into your mind too. To that though you were a spectator, privy to the innermost workings of what horrified that particular individual.

Tense shoulders, a talon-like grip taking control of your hands, a furrowed brow. Your eyes snapped shut; while the nightmares were never your personal bane they hardly offered any comfort. You saw it all. It would be the first of many in the coming eternity. 

Their shrinking hands slashing and clawing through phantom blood, unable to cup it, unable to consume any of it in a vicious bout of craving. Frantically pressing themselves into the ground as the endless blood on the ground began draining into the soil. They were withering by the second. It didn’t matter to the vampire that it was utterly ridiculous.

The vampire before you, the real version, collapsed to the ground; you heard it, like a snare cutting through reverberating bass. You didn’t open your eyes until their breath came out in pants, as if they were suffocating on too much air. And it stopped. Just like that. An end to the focus ending their nightmare. 

Aro cocked his head, continuing to read you. In hindsight, you wished you had cut and run right then. You would have had a head start. Your sire wouldn’t have caught you in the few moments he had made the mistake of leaving you alone. From that moment on, he forced you to be at his side. You remembered the berating you had gotten for your disobedience that followed after his wide-eyed realization that you could do what you had done to the weeping vampire.

With that, you became the prize of the coven; it was your abilities that afforded your sire his longevity. He made you play with his food sometimes; asking what you saw as you screwed your eyes shut. You told yourself it was from the effort. In truth it was not any harder than flicking down a wooden block had been in your mortal youth. 

No, you strained with the wretched knowledge that the only thing you really had a knack for was holding out a mirror. The beastly things you saw -- what frightened the most deplorable of individuals. It was sick; in every horrid vision you churned out, you saw the inner workings of the mind, of the filthy things that these monsters had done in their conscious lives. The worst thing about your abilities was that the most frequent nightmare you bore witness to was them getting what they had deserved. Revenge. Balance. Order. Justice.

It was true. Yours and Aro’s gifts weren’t really that different. You saw a lot, possibly too much of whoever had the poor luck of encountering your proficiencies.

And, oh, how your sire had loved your gift. It was precious, he said. You recalled a time he had even called it artistry. It was after you used it, after you saw the depravity of human and vampire kind that he cradled your head between his heavy hands. You learned to savor the moments where he wasn’t throwing them around. And during those times when you deeply pleased him by what you were able to do, you saw him bloat with the intoxication of power. It would be many years until you really used your gift but it took little guesswork to know then what he feared: the loss of control -- the loss of you. Motivated by pride he kept turning others, stopping at the fifth of your covenmates when he realized that he had really only lucked out on his first try -- also, you.

That was when you had been initially approached. Your sire had never once received so much as a greeting from the Volturi; he never let you forget how bitter it made him. Unfortunately, his hold on you also included passing down his opinion. By the time the Volturi got to you, you had been spoiled against them. Only time would truly tell whether you would be forgiven for it.

At this moment, though his red eyes were set on you, Aro wasn’t really looking though -- not the present-you anyways. It was subtle, the way his brows and lips fluttered up and down as if fighting his own desire to respond. His expression sobered briefly.

You had spent centuries with the man, your sire… he was brutal. Even you were not immune to his rage. Each of your covenmates were strong in their own rights but none of you were singularly stronger than him. The Volturi’s arrival and immediate departure was one of the worst days of your life. You remembered holding one of your sisters, the sixth, the youngest, after it all. She begged you to stay and endure with her. And for two hundred years the two of you, all of you kept that promise to each other.

It had been one too many cruel moments when the dam broke. It was the moment that all of you realized that while you were too individually weak, he couldn’t handle all of you. You did the honors of the inaugural blow -- undoing him with nightmares of his own demise as it came to fruition. It was the only time in all of your years of using your abilities that you hadn’t clenched your eyes shut and shrunk away. No, that time… that time you had leaned forward, eyes unblinking as you watched him writhe in fear before what was left of him was instead writhing in pain. It was easy, like dropping a heavy bucket with little care of what happened to its contents. 

As Aro dug, it was only then that you realized you smiled when you’d done it. It was funny, you supposed, that your sire’s worst fear had come to pass right as it transpired just moments before in his mind. The six of you, your five covenmates and yourself, tore him to shreds. No blood that you had tasted or would ever taste compared to the delicious freedom of his eternal rest. He died, truly died, afraid. He deserved worse.

It was short-lived though. After centuries of subjugation, the sudden freedom was a blessing and a curse and not a single one of you could really agree on what to do except to leave. It was devastating in the same way you would see the final struggle of a living thing fighting off its final moments before succumbing; they were certainly in a better place. Two of them went on their own. The other three traveled together elsewhere. At the end of it you found yourself alone and not wanting to be weak again a day in your life.

While the rebellion had been justified, it was an overthrow of power, something especially dangerous in the halls of Volterra and you had been the ring leader. After all, you were the only one in the group with a talent.

Aro rose to his feet, gently tugging you up with him. “Now that does complicate the narrative, doesn’t it…”

Your eyes flickered to Caius who was in turn staring him down. “Oh, come off it, Aro. You are not honestly considering letting her in.” He stalked up to where the two of you were standing. You looked up at both of the men, still a step below. “The Volturi do not give second chances!”

“If I may, I am not asking for a second chance.” Bold… This was bold of you… “I am petitioning for membership on the grounds that it was offered once before. Your opinions of me have not changed since the initial offer.”

“Yes, they have.” Caius spat.

“Mine haven’t,” Aro confirmed. “Although I wouldn’t be so sure that is a good thing.”

Bright red eyes bore down as you finally pulled your hand from his grasp. His fingertips brushed along your knuckles before his hands lowered in kind. Him looking through your mind just moments prior felt less invasive. You directed your attention instead to the less intense of the two.

“We should have killed you the second you walked in here.”

Very well. “If it is an apology you want I will give it.” Your eyes were locked on Caius, pure impudence meeting unbridled sadism. You knew it drove him crazy.

“Foolish girl-!”

“I am sorry!” You snapped at him. The words came out more like ‘shut up.’ They were just as effective though. Caius stood silent although the sneer was still on his face. Of course that would do it for him. You knew it. It was disgusting. Oh, how he loved seeing people grovel. The hate in that man’s heart…

You suddenly remembered yourself. Aro had seen that -- your distaste for Caius, your willingness to do anything to be a member of the Volturi, your deep regret that your sire had influenced you to be so brash. That was one of the worst things your sire ever did: convincing you that his opinions were yours.

“I will repeat to you what I said to you earlier. Forgive me for the insolence of my early days. It was unwise of me to have behaved in such a way… and-” You were practically choking on your apology, uselessly panting with the effort. Admittance that you were wrong had a bad mouthfeel, especially after decades being forced to do it. “-and I was wrong about all of it. Consider me corrected.”

If Caius had been biting back any of his cruel amusement before, he certainly wasn’t hiding it now. Marcus was now standing closer having meandered nearer during the course of the apology. And Aro… Aro had the most curious of soft smiles on his face. 

You were beginning to think you had made some kind of mistake coming here. You had laid almost all your cards bare. You had shown them you were desperate which was far worse than just being desperate. This was something you were going to have to amend for a good while if they accepted you. That you begged to be let in.

“I am satisfied,” Caius remarked, eyes settling on Aro. They were standing over you, all three of them. 

Some days ago you had come across a rat moments before it was devoured by three street dogs in an alleyway on your journey to Volterra. It must have looked like something like this to that rather unfortunate vermin, you thought to yourself.

Your head dropped in complete and utter humility, eyes only on the marble underfoot. Even the pristine stone was too good for you… You had been at the mercy of the three men before you since you set foot in this dreadful place. It was only at that premature moment you still had an ounce of pride in your body. It was far gone now.

“Marcus?”

“I am satisfied.”

“As am I.” Cold smooth fingers tucked under your chin. Aro’s. You must have looked something pitiful. “And this-” Aro tutted at you, lifting your face up. “-we will work on this.”

The gesture might have been kind, intimate even, if it was anyone but Aro. You didn’t really trust him as far as you could throw him but you knew enough in having seen his nightmares many years ago that he would not tolerate an ounce of self-deprecation in a vampire beyond paying their due respects to the Volturi, to him. He had seen quite enough from you. That much was true.

“Yes… sir?” You tested the title. You weren’t quite sure what to refer to him as.

Aro’s face took on something of a delighted expression. “Look at you using your manners. See, Caius; she learns.” The blonde vampire rolled his eyes. “I do appreciate it but ‘Aro’ will do just fine.”

Ah. Well, that was embarrassing. You nodded affirmatively. Marcus’ eyes flicked from Aro to you and back before he returned to his seat. Out of the corner of your eye you saw Jane smile something wicked.

“We shall get you new attire, especially now that you will be joining the guard after some fine-tuning, but there’s no sense in putting you in anything of the sort since we’re coming up on-” The side doors swung open and Heidi led in a group of tourists who were guffawing at the ceiling. Aro’s hands flew up like a child prince being brought an expensive present. In a sense, it was -- “-dinnertime!”

Oh, so this was how they fed. Aro steered you to the side and behind him with a hand clamped around your upper arm. Heidi sidled up to you.

“Welcome to the Volturi.”

“How did you know?”

“You are still in one piece.” Fair. 

Aro leaned over to you. “Now, next time you will join your compatriots along the wall but tonight we will make an exception -- something of a welcome gift…” He extended his arm to the group of mortals before you who were clicking pictures of the room. Like fish in a bucket… or however the expression went.

You raised a brow at him. 

“You first, my dear.”

A vampire along the wall by the name of Felix bobbed on his feet, antsy. You smiled and launched off the platform for the human before you. The both of you rolled together as you slammed him into the ground. Only his limbs flailed clumsily. Yours had been a vision of centuries of practice. A trained killer.

You bared your teeth. He screamed. Humans… 

Wandering aimlessly about the grounds, such expansive ones at that and with such independence, was novel to you. You weren’t entirely sure what to do with yourself; it was beautiful. Just months ago you had been sequestered to your corner of the world, never to go beyond a painfully small perimeter. And now here you were… surrounded by the most powerful of your kind. Nearly unrestricted access to the grounds. New clothes. Fresh blood, not whatever your sire didn’t finish. Eyes never black with hunger. The respect you got as a tentative member of the Volturi guard. It was new.

And the Italian air. Sure, you didn’t really need to breathe at all. There wasn’t a function to smelling it. But the air… The breeze in Volterra was something fresh, warm, earthy, sweet, like blood. It was even more perfumy at night.

Something about the years of being on edge, even as an immortal, still ran through your veins, through the very way you functioned. Even in your most relaxed moments, you could recognize when you were being followed. And someone was following you.

You stopped in your tracks, only peering over your shoulder.

A fraction of you thought to yourself -- how odd… Aro should’ve been better at this. Then you realized two things. The first was that if Aro was truly aiming for discretion in whatever he was about to do, there was no reason for it to be him here and now. The second was that it was also entirely possible that Aro simply didn’t care that you knew he was there… or, in fact, did want you to know. Your curiosity was a helpless one; you must’ve looked like a cat.

“I was wondering when you were going to catch on.”

Only the trees in the garden obscured him from you, not the darkness. “How did I do?”

Silence as he rounded the corner. Black suit. Red eyes. Dark hair slicked back. You let him approach until he was a pace away, slowly continuing. “Ten seconds before you caught me… there are a good many vampires who would have gone much longer if noticing me at all.”

“Will you subtract a moment or two since I contemplated not acknowledging you?”

“Hearsay.”

“Only if you have the ability to corroborate and don’t.” You held your hand out to the side toward him, stopping in your tracks. 

Aro only looked at it from the side of his eye, not even stopping. He did grace you with a smile though. “I should like to keep my victory unnegotiated.”

Ah, yes… the cat walking next to whatever you could call it that killed it. You closed the distance with a few long strides, now playing catch up with him. “You were loud.”

“I was not aiming for stealth.” If Aro was trying to humble you, it was working.

“And what was your target then?”

Silence again. It was comfortable. In time you came upon your favorite spot in the gardens — the point at which you could overlook the better portion of the town. It was beautiful -- quiet and empty for the most part at this time of night but the evidence of mortality there, living and dying… well, you still found it charming. 

“Would now be the appropriate time to thank you?”

“For heaven's what?”

“For…” You finally looked at him beside you. He wasn’t looking at you; perhaps he was gazing beyond this little enclave in Tuscany. “For your hospitality.”

“Hospitality is for guests.”

“I was a guest for a small while.”

“You were more of a defendant.”

“Well, then, I thank you for your arbitration.”

“My ‘arbitration’?”

“Yes.”

Aro exhaled for the show of it. “Do stop your simpering and get on with what you mean.” 

You were speechless.

“I didn’t say ‘shut up,’ did I?”

You blinked at him. “I suppose… I am grateful to be somewhere nicer.”

“I can hardly be thanked for your decision to come here.” He still refused to regard you. You imagined it was a rare thing for Aro to resist such expressions of the kind. He was a proud man after all. You looked back out at Volterra.

Aro finally turned his eyes to you. It was a withering look. Now that you obliged. “I saw quite a bit in that mind of yours. It is such a shame that you were thoroughly convinced of such horrible things.”

You were confused. “The only thing that I was convinced of was inferiority.”

“Like I said,” he snipped. “Horrible things.”

“Now how is that horrible,” you inquired. Surely this did not bother him personally. Aro did not strike you as the type. “I do you no injury in my lack of pride.”

“And you think it is good for the Volturi’s reputation, for the guard’s reputation to have but one who thinks themselves lesser than even humans?” Aro seemed to shudder at the ‘h word.’

Oh. There it was. He was right. Your head lowered.

He tilted your chin up for the second time. It wasn’t as gentle. This time it was a scolding. Aro was not pleased. He released it looking back onto the town. “And you must stop that. It’s unbecoming.”

It was lost on you how to respond. “Sorry.”

“Already forgiven, my dear.”

“I guess… I just want to thank you for taking a chance.”

Aro scoffed and looked at you fully. He wasn’t a tall man; his height was hardly what made him intimidating. What made him intimidating was the stature with which he carried himself, the raw power, the hunger, the intelligence. A man like him hadn’t gotten to where he was without some impressive cunning. 

“I might find low esteem from my subordinates satisfactory on the usual occasion. I will not mince my words -- on you it is a most distasteful thing. I will forgive its ugliness for its reaffirmation but only for a time.”

If there was any functional air in your lungs, it would’ve been snatched from you. His words were not harshly spoken nor were they loudly boomed at you. Instead they broke skin like something sharp to vulnerable flesh. Aro took an imposing step forward. You took one back but it wasn’t enough. Your neck was craned up at him despite every inner instinct to shrink away; you wouldn’t dare disobey him again. You weren’t sure he would be as kind.

“There is nothing so abhorrent as one of our kind — our superior, beautiful kind — acting in the embarrassing way you continue to. If I was capable of emptying my stomach at the thought, I would.” Aro plucked something minute off your shoulder before rolling it between his long fingers and discarding it to the wind. “And as far as taking a chance is concerned, I- The Volturi- do not ‘take chances.’ Make no mistake, there is no calculated risk with you being here.”

“I-”

“If that is an apology or another meaningless expression of gratitude poised on your tongue, I would advise that you hold it there.”

You could only gape up at him. He was leaning over you still, very close.

“You will show the full extent of your gifts tomorrow. I want you officially in the guard as soon as possible.” And with that, Aro was gone, stalking away into the gardens.

With about 12 hours to ruminate on Aro’s words to you, you had decided that he had a flair for melodrama. You also decided definitively that you would never let him know such a thing unless he pried the information from you, which he was indeed capable of. This… what you were being made to do before the Volturi… You would not define it with such levity. When Aro had said that you were to display the full extent of your gifts, he had meant it. 

It wasn’t certain whether it was you or the man writhing on the ground that was the subject of the gripping fear that your nightmares brought, what with your upper body being curled in on itself the way it was. Your fingers were curled at the ends of your locked arms with effort. The unfortunate human’s whimpers rattled along the domed ceiling, merely an accessory to the deep hum in your ears. 

There was an exaggerated yawn from behind you — showy for a vampire — Jane’s. And a voice cut through the whole of it, halting your powers immediately. “No, no. That won’t do at all.”

Because you had already been shrinking away at the time of the interruption you needed only to open your eyes. The body thudded to the floor. Relief. It wouldn’t last. Aro was shaking his head as he leaned against his throne.

“You, my dear-” he pushed off his spot and stopped just behind you “-are holding back.”

The man, as far as you could tell, was only deeply phobic of spiders. It was how you had done it the dozens of times you’d done it before. Except for…

Out of the corner of your eye, Caius held a finger to his temple, rolling his eyes. Asshole… Aro’s voice pulled you back. “Try again.”

You clenched your eyes shut, your chest coiling up in kind. The man began wheezing almost instantaneously, the only sound in the room.

“No.” Aro cut in once again and you dropped focus. You turned to face him, your muscles loosening in the way that only annoyance could make them. His red eyes glimmered back at you. “That is not what I meant. Again.”

You huffed. You’ve done it once before, his face seemed to say. Who were you kidding… that was exactly what his sharp features said. When you had channeled that much power, you had been in an entirely different state of mind. That had been the raw rage you had buckled behind survival. All you had done was suddenly unleash it. You weren’t certain that you still had it in you. “Aro. I can’t-”

“Ah, ah, ah.” Nonsense. His hand straightened to a point — the human, once more. 

You faced more of your body, still tense, eyes clamping shut. Your arms locked to your sides and you willed the fear forward before you tensed — thunder in your ears. Your muscles reacted in pure instinct, the man weeping in perfect time. Despite the overwhelming physical sensation of pushing the abstract forward, you could feel Aro behind you. It was stronger this time.

Oh, the man wasn’t just afraid of spiders.

Between the spiders, flickering amidst the impossible number of angular legs and blinking sets of eyes, the insects that dribbled into every corner of his vision, there was something else. A girl with one dark eye and a knife. She was young.

You jolted backward, knocking briefly against Aro. If he minded he didn’t indicate any such sentiment. Your lip curled into a sneer. The human… he was pleading with a higher power that was certainly not listening if it was there at all. Pathetic.

When your eyelids closed this time they didn’t tighten. It was a flutter. And this time when your muscles tensed, you trembled. Where there was air between the clawed fingers at your side, you imagined the man’s fleshy neck. This… this was righteous. The girl began closing in, spiders skittering out of her path.

Aro’s voice brushed your ear. “May I?” You nodded your head, although you weren’t certain as to what exactly you were agreeing to. Aro would not harm you; you were sure of it.

It felt like a baptism. In a way it was. Feather light, Aro’s fingers ghosted first at the base of your neck, gently pulling the muscles out to your shoulders. In the touch you were acutely aware that it wasn’t intimacy that Aro was after; he was honing you. Your nightmares were only encouraged.

Aro’s hands smoothed over your shoulders with a quiet mastery -- tender in the way a sculptor guided pliable clay between their fingers as it spun at their behest. The harshness was gone with but a swipe. 

The man bellowed. He sounded now more of a screeching animal than man. The girl picked up her pace, almost a jog. The knife winked at him.

It turned into a full grasp as Aro traveled down your biceps, tugging the astriction out. He chased the natural form of the muscle down your elbows into the joint of your wrist. The rigidity in your fingers released at the pressure he placed there -- conjoined in poise.

You pushed a stronger assault of terror forward to meet the man. Long gone were the spiders. There was a small part of you that recognized that he wished for the insects instead of the young girl with a bruise ready to bury the knife in his chest, his stomach, anywhere the business end would find purchase. She was standing over him.

He screamed. Yes, ‘scream’ was the right word for it…

You spectated his nightmare; the girl with the dark eye had already started plunging her blade into him. Again. Again. Again. Again.

Aro’s hands shed themselves from your arms but only for a moment. Your chin bloomed with the familiar feeling of his fingers, turning it and angling it upright. Proud as it was meant to be.

He whispered again. “Look.” It was a gruesome sight. 

The possibility that the man had begun gouging out his own eyes the moment Aro had begun amending your posture was a good one. If that was the case he had indeed made decent progress. The man was on his knees and his left eye hung from its socket like a generous helping of hot cheese, swinging. You almost wanted to applaud the man’s zeal. Only a desperate rodent would have done what he had. His grubby fingers pushed into his own skull again, getting around the other eye, bemoaning his self-inflicted plight. He seemed to be chewing the air. There was viscera on the marble -- not the first time it had been so defiled and it certainly wouldn’t be the last.

Still, you didn’t relent; you had never extended your power this far. God, why hadn’t you done it before… Sure, you- no, he had taken his eyes but somehow it wasn’t enough. The young girl brandishing the blood-soaked knife was still angry. This was justice. And he hadn’t yet paid in full.

He howled, writhing.

Marcus approached at the very edge of your vision. “Aro… is this-?” 

He was halted by an upheld hand, the other slowly falling from your chin. Aro watched you as you watched the man, watched his nightmares.

“We needn’t toy any longer.”

The thunder in your ears rumbled to silence. “This is toying? If you saw what I saw, you’d know…”

Marcus seemed taken aback. You weren’t sure if it was because of how true your words were or how right they sounded coming from your mouth.

You drifted back to the man. “He deserves it.” Your voice came out no louder than a whisper.

“It’s alright, Marcus. We asked for an assessment-” The ensuing squelch and sudden cry indicated the man had found success on his second endeavor. “-and we have indeed received one.”

You found Aro’s eyes with yours.

There was something of an assuaged smile -- his bright teeth wolfish. The feeling of your cheeks pulled up was the only sign to yourself that you had been smiling. You took the moment to look about the room. Caius was staring at the man on the floor, mouth slightly ajar.

“Well?”

He turned his head first then his eyes. A grin.

You beheld the grotesque body with a sneer. He hadn’t even had the decency to look artful as he went -- his body held upright by the leverage of his spine against his heels. Pathetic. The way he dug at his own face like that… like you were some tumor, something he could just rip out of himself if he tried hard enough and be done with. He died as stupid as he looked. Your chest flared at the offense.

Aro was still standing near you. “Par excellence.”

You digested his words. You understood now. This was what he had known you were capable of. In just moments, Aro had cured you of your affliction, the debilitation of timidity. You matched his smile.

“Would now be the appropriate time to thank you?”

It was met with a giddy laugh. Aro clapped his hands together, utterly delighted at your words, your smile. He gulped it down and stepped backward offering you an expressive bow complete with arms outstretched. “No ‘thanks’ necessary. You… you are a credit to our kind.”

You bobbed your head in courteous reply to his own bow, unable to hide your giggle.

“You were never anything but.”

[wynterrolls]

Arcana Twilight and Obey Me (OG) Comparison

Background: Obey Me (OG) was officially released on December 11, 2019, while Arcana Twilight was released on August 25, 2022 for worldwide audience. People have said that Arcana Twilight have similar mechanics with Obey Me (OG), but to what extent? I've played both games, so I'll write this comparison.

Disclaimer: The things I would write here would be based on my observation of the game mechanics and features present in both games. I did this post to list down the similarities and difference between both games, and not to cause dissonance between two fandoms.

Similarities

I'll list down the similarities in this format:

[Arcana Twilight feature = Obey Me (OG) feature]

MP = AP

Gold = Grimm

Crystals = Devil Points (DP)

Magic Tickets = Demon Vouchers (DV)

Visit = :D Jobs

Milky Way = Devil's Tree

Sorcerer Cards = Demon Cards

Wish Cards = Memory Cards

Scout = Nightmare

Constellation Room = Chapter A

Wish Room = Chapter M

Possession Room = Chapter G

Dressroom = Majolish

Chat = Chat

Calls = Phone

Diary = Devilgram

Mission = To Do

Shop = Akuzon

Magic Academy = Contacts

Stage = Your Tasks

Arcana Club Membership = Akuzon VIP Membership

Amplifier Stone = Glow Stick

Summon of Sorcerer = Surprise Guest

Unicorn = Raven

Differences

a. Amount of ads

The very first thing that will greet you when you open the Arcana Twilight is an ad. Both games have ads to support their game mechanics, but the amount of ads you could find in Arcana Twilight is more than those in Obey Me.

The Obey Me ads are mostly there to help the players gain more chances to battle the stages - thru gaining more AP or gaining more battle chances in hard stages or event stages.

The Arcana Twilight ads, however, are mostly found everywhere, since the ads can be used to double the resources drops/gold and to obtain materials and gold if you don't have MP to farm battle stages. You could even use the ads to reduce the time for Visits, which then you don't have to wait long to get gold to upgrade your cards. The ads in this game is like a massive cheat to progress faster thru the game. All you have to do is watch ads and you'll have your resources as reward.

However, there are times wherein forced ads would sometimes pop out after you complete a battle stage in main story or when you'd open the app. If the player wants to opt out of the ads, unfortunately, they can't do so. I'm not sure if the Arcana Club membership implements a "No-Ads" perk though.

As for why are there so many ads in the game? There's a speculation that the reason might be because of this. The link discussed about the reason for why it looks like they are in need of money. Since ads is an option to gain money in a game, they utilized it in order to make money because they are constantly on red. This is actually a good way for free-to-play (F2Ps) players to support the developers if they can't shell out money or buy the Arcana Club membership in the game.

b. Crystal Rewards in Main Story Stages and Daily Missions

One thing you'd notice right away is that in Arcana Twilight, each battle stage rewards 50 crystals for first-time 3-star clear. Then, after you clear out the whole chapter, you'll receive another crystal reward for 3-starring all stages in the chapter. The daily missions give out 50 crystals each day, so it pays the effort to open the game daily and clear out the dailies.

It is completely different from Obey Me (OG), wherein completing each stage in the main story, you'll only receive devil's tree items in the missions and occasionally, you'll get DP for the boss stage you've cleared for the chapter. The daily missions only give out a total of 18 devil points.

c. Events

Obey Me constantly push events every time in the game. There are times when there would be downtime, but it is pretty minimal. The events have story stages and reward ladders that players could opt to grind if they want the UR cards in the event. There are also event cards that is only available in time-limited event banners, which can boost the points for the reward ladder grind.

However, the Pop Quiz or Celestial Blessing events are mostly for spending players and not for F2Ps because of how much resources you need to put into the event just to get the desired rewards from the ladder. F2Ps could join the Birthday event grind but with proper preparation first. But the good news is that the past Pop Quiz and Celestial Blessing events do come back in Lonely Devil and you could rerun the event for a limited time to grind for the rewards as F2P.

Arcana Twilight, on the other hand, has event cards but there is no event story stages nor reward ladders to grind for. The event story is locked behind the event cards from the limited-time banners.

When it comes to limited-time event banners, Obey Me only have demon cards in the banners, whereas in Arcana Twilight, the event banners include both sorcerer card and wish card in the roster. The Obey Me event memory cards are only available in the event reward ladders.

Both games have event banner reruns and Obey Me rerun banners also retain the pity/total summons done from before, so that players could continue their pulls the next time the banner reruns. As for Arcana Twilight, I have no idea if the rerun banners also retain the pity/total summons from previous banner run.

d. Main Story Chapter Updates

There's this joke in the fandom that while Obey Me updates their main story chapter every week, Arcana Twilight gets update every year. It sounds like a joke, but it's not really far-fetch from what happened.

To start off, I'm not a day 1 player. I only started recently so the things I'm writing here are from what I understood in my research. I snooped around the archives of the official Tumblr account of Arcana Twilight and sub-Reddit and found their posts about the chapter additions in the game and noted their timestamps.

Their very first chapter addition is Floor 10, which means that on its initial release, the game has until Floor 9 only. Floor 10 was announced to be added on September 2022, Floor 11 on April 2023, Floor 12 on late October 2023, and recently released, Floor 13 was added on December 2023.

I still haven't reached Floor 13 yet. I stopped at Floor 8 at the time of this writing, because of the requirement needing me to be at least level 30 to proceed to next floor, which I'm currently low-leveled yet for that, so I could only bid my time and make my team stronger for the next floors.

But from what I could tell, the players feel as if they were left with a cliffhanger with the recent addition, with many of them thinking that a lot of questions were left unanswered. They could see the potential of the story in the game but, a lot of lore details weren't really touched on in the story.

I'm not really sure what happened in Floor 13 since I tried to avoid the story spoiler, but this image below is what I saw mostly talked about.

People are either thinking that this ending credit means that the main story of the game is completely finished or that this credit is saying that this floor is the end of Season 1 of main story.

In my opinion, I'm not really sure how to react to this kind of news. I just recently started the game and wrote the newbie guide and card mechanic guide posts just a few days after playing the game, only to find out that the game is probably on it last leg. I'm not really sure what would happen next for this game and I could only wait it out.

e. Inventory

Obey Me (OG) doesn't have an inventory, while Arcana Twilight has one.

f. Friend list

Obey Me (OG) has friend list where you could gain 50 AP by exchanging with friends daily, while Arcana Twilight doesn't have one.

Sources

Reason for the lack of new content by u/No_Economist_7447

10th Floor: New Additional Stage Notice

11th Floor: New Additional Stage Notice

12th Floor: New Additional Stage Notice

13th Floor: New Additional Stage Notice

➥ Back to my otome game masterlist.

Update Log

12/17/2023 - Uploaded the post.

12/17/2023 - Added additional info about ads, events banner, inventory and friend list in Differences

01/29/2024 - Added the reminder line at the top

[mikerickson]

A frequent flyer rewards program I have an account with also has a website where you can take marketing/advertising surveys to earn free miles/points. Kind of a mindless way to pass the time, but I fail the preliminary screening process 9 times out of 10 and get a "Sorry! We don't think you're a good fit for this survey!" message, and these seem to be the most common reasons:

I don't have a Facebook or Tiktok account

I don't watch any television or movies, and don't have any subscriptions to streaming services

I don't watch any sports, pay for a gym membership, or drink alcohol

I don't use food delivery services or ride-share services like Uber

I don't buy my groceries online

I handle all my own investing and refuse to use a financial advisor

I am not a C-level executive at the company I work at

I don't have kids

[runrunningrunner]

When you have to cut to the bone

When everything goes south and you have to cut your budget to nothing to survive, it's a shit show. There's no magic bullet. It's emotional. There are no big wins, instead it's a game of winning by paying attention to every possible penny saved. Here's the steps we took to survive and turn it around:

Record. Cut. Save. Cook. Sell. Earn.

Below the cut are three steps - Record, Cut, and Save ...

Step One - Record

Start up a Google Spreadsheet of all your bills and expenses. Look out for recurring expenses, especially anything annual. There's nothing worse than having a really tight budget and getting hit with an annual renewal fee at just the wrong time.

Now you have a detailed picture of where your money regularly goes.

Next create a tab for upcoming events and expenses that are out of the ordinary; the annual tax and tags bill for your car, your parent's birthday, any work dues or training costs. Now you can see the next bumps in the road.

Phase Two - The Cut

Cut subscriptions and memberships. We really didn't have many, but they all went out. Yes Amazon Prime "saved" us money on delivery shipping and movies and and and ... but that spending had to stop too, so Prime had to go.

Home phone/internet/cable/cell. We cut the cable and the old landline. There's a lot of free TV and movie content online so we still watch "TV" we just don't pay for it anymore. We used to have a landline in case of power outages/storms that would disconnect us. But where we are now, our home phone comes in digitally so we'd still lose the phone in a power cut. So we just use our mobiles now. And changing your bundle of services is a good time to shop for a cheaper set of services on what you do decide to keep.

Also, you can buy digital antenna ("rabbit ears") for less than $20 to get free local TV; typically this is the main national network TV stations and PBS and a few others. It will depend where you are in the country.

A lot of the rest of the cut was just going to zero spending on anything that wasn't groceries or gas. For me that meant no bought lunches, coffees, vending machine snacks etc. during the work day.

In the short term that may also mean that you cut out any donations that you regularly make to causes/your church. You're the person in need now. You cannot give from an empty wallet. When you're back in a good place, it'll be time for you to give again.

Phase Three - Save

Look for a cheaper cell phone plan - that you can use your existing phone with (because short term you're not spending any $ on new stuff like new phones). If your plan has unlimited talk and text, you can cut way down on the data per month. Use your home (and other) wi-fi for most of your data needs. We use Boost Mobile. Cricket is another low $ provider.

Shop to save with new car and home insurance - and bundle for discounts.

Utilities equal payment plans - as we're heading into summer, our electric bill goes up with A/C usage. Spring is a good time to switch to a monthly equal payment plan; in the short term you'll avoid your electric bill jumping over the summer. In the longer term, this isn't an actual savings, it just helps manage the money better.

If your natural gas bill (heating) typically goes down in the summer, enjoy those lower bills in the summer and wait until the fall and go to equal payment plan before your high heating cost months.

Use EVERY savings channel.

Your bank may have savings deals with various brands on debit or credit card usage percentage discounts. Bank of America's is called BankAmeriDeals, Wells Fargo's is Wells Fargo Deals, Chase has one too. Online Paypal has deals, and you can use sites like Rakuten. Get into the habit of planning purchases and seeing if you can find a deal before you even make the purchase.

Use the loyalty rewards for every grocery, pharmacy store, and gas purchase. We shop at Harris Teeter (owned by Kroger); in addition to their "VIC Card" savings on produce etc. shopping there earns me gas rewards so for at least one tank a month I get up to $1 off a gallon at BP. So that's ~$13 a month for just doing what I'd do normally.

I also use loyalty rewards for 2 other gas station chains to eek every free cent of gas I can, and I use the GasBuddy app to find the cheapest gas near me.

At the grocery store, it's time to get ruthless. I'm a sale/discount king. There are certain goods (toilet paper, dish washing liquid, food staples) that you'll always need, so even if you have some at home, walk down those aisles and buy more if it's on sale.

Don't stockpile loads and loads, because you still need your $ in the bank, but just get into a rhythm of buying sale only. For example, I know that the tea Mrs. RRR likes goes on discount about every two months. When it's on sale, if I buy only 1 box, then next month I'd have to buy at full price, so when it's on sale I get 2 boxes and then I never have to buy at full price... but I don't stockpile and get 4 boxes!

When you have to buy/refill prescriptions, compare your insurance plan's rx cost with the price on GoodRx - you may be able to get a coupon code for a cheaper price.

I'm sure there's more, but this is just what we had to do.

Next up I'll write about the last 3 steps.

[bulldyke-rider]

You ever wonder what things you do that gets somebody chewed out by their boss for such stupid reasons.

Like, I love falling asleep to QVC. Do you think these people get chewed out because I decrease the number of sales they get per viewer by not buying anything? When I literally watch it for bed time entertainment.

Or like, when I worked at VS, we would get yelled at for not having enough sales per customer because our door counted the number of people coming in (we also weren't allowed to leave the fucking store for our break because it counted us). But I love just going into stores to look.

I don't have any store credit cards because having all those inquiries on your credit isn't good. But so many stores have those (and VS does treat their employees like shit for not signing people up). I also don't have a ton of memberships and rewards cards.

And these are all things you're never going to convince me of. If I don't wanna buy something, if I don't wanna sign up for something, you can't make me. Especially not a random ass retail worker. But they get the blame put on them when I don't buy into this stupid shit.

[bugsnax-community-questions]

Bugsnax Community Questions ~ Poll #8

Tape #1:

"Well, Aren't you an intrepid little journalist. Coming into this secret hideaway just to ask questions to the first stranger you see... Hmm... I DO respect the pursuit of knowledge, and i HAVE been down here for... Waaay too long. Go ahead. Question me if you dare."

Tape #2

"I... Am Alegander Jamfoot. Junior archivist and crypto-snakological researcher. That is my passion, anyway. I am also... A part time barista. I was sent here by my organization to monitor this triangular relic. A position of honor i was told... But I hold no illusions. This is a punishment."

Tape #3

"In my time isolated here, I have learned more than any Snakolyte before me. With the secrets I have unlocked, the discovery of the three queens, i could rise to the upper echelons of the organization! Yes. I will be well rewarded. Ideally with a weekly stipend. Or maybe even. Um. Healthcare? Even not having to pay membership dues would be... Y'know... Pretty good."

Tape #4

"This place is a temple of sorts, but even i don't understand it's true purpose. The ones who built it are lost far beneath the ocean. The organization uses it as a break room."

Tape #5

"The first queen was wrathful. When she awakened, she wreaked terrible vengeance on those who had sacrificed her to the Bugsnax. The second queen was benevolent. Through her guidance, the Bugsnax were pacified, and the Snaktooth Empire flourished for centuries. But as all empires do, it grew beyond her control. The third queen will be one of ours... Hopefully. With her power, we will usher in an age of peace and prosperity. Ideally... Before my student loans are due."

Tape #6

"We are the Snakolytes: Scholars and sailors descended from the remnants of Grumpbeards's final voyage. We are the keepers of Snaktooth's secrets. Protectors against the threat to Bugsnax until such a time that they can be... Brought under our control."

Tape #7

"Ugggh, we are NOT the Grumpanati! That's made-up movie nonsense. I mean, sometimes our actions are blamed on the Grumpanati... But we're a secret society, we can't just go around correcting everybody."

Tape #8

"I've been been watching your expedition with great interest. I don't get radio out here so, you know, most entertainment I've had all year. I am afraid that Bronica Lottablog has gone somewhere that you should not follow."

Tape #9

"I have made many foolish choices in my life. Foremost among us, a degree in library sciences. Look, there weren't many jobs out there, and i found an internship in a magazine ad. Unpaid as it turns out. Welcome to the Snakolytes."

Tape #10

"Well, wasn't that fun? I will be taking your recordings now. Oh, don't look so shocked. Surely you understand I can't let any of this become public knowledge. As for what happens to you... Well, I believe the Snakolytes could use someone with your investigative talents. And I, of course, could really use a recruitment bonus."

[wildearthpetfood]

8 Places to Buy Discounted Wild Earth Pet Food Online

Do you want to give your pet the best pet store usa food without breaking the bank? Wild Earth pet food is a top choice for pet parents who care about their furry friend's health and the planet. But high-quality pet food can be pricey. Don't worry—there are ways to snag great deals online! Let's explore eight places to buy discounted Wild Earth pet food and keep your wallet and pet happy.

What Makes Wild Earth Pet Food Special?

Sustainable Ingredients

Wild Earth uses innovative plant-based proteins that are packed with essential nutrients. This means your pet gets all the goodness of a balanced diet without the need for animal-based ingredients. It's a win-win for pets and the planet!

Eco-Friendly Practices

Wild Earth is not just about feeding pets; it's about creating a sustainable future. They focus on reducing carbon footprints through eco-conscious production methods.

Why Look for Discounts on Wild Earth Pet Food?

Premium Quality Comes at a Price

High-quality pet food like as seen on tv pet food Wild Earth can be expensive. Finding discounts can make it more accessible for pet parents on a budget.

Budget-Friendly Options Help You Save

Shopping smarter allows you to provide the best for your pet while controlling expenses. Let's dive into the best places to shop online.

Top 8 Online Stores for Discounted Wild Earth Pet Food

Chewy

Chewy offers regular discounts and subscription services for additional savings. Its fast shipping ensures that you will never run out of your pet's favorite food.

Amazon

Amazon often offers competitive pricing and deals. Check customer reviews to ensure quality, and look for bundle offers to save even more.

Petco

Petco provides exclusive membership perks and a price-matching policy, so you know you're getting the best deal possible.

PetSmart

PetSmart frequently runs promotions and lets you pick up items at your local store for convenience.

Walmart

Walmart offers Wild Earth pet food at budget-friendly prices, with options for buying in bulk to save more.

Target

With Target's RedCard, you can get discounts on every purchase. Look for additional online coupons and seasonal sales.

Thrive Market

Thrive Market is perfect for health-conscious pet owners. Membership offers access to exclusive discounts on Wild Earth products.

Local Co-ops and Specialty Stores

Community-based co-ops often Wikipedia have unique deals. They also provide a personalized shopping experience, helping you find the best products for your pet.

Tips to Save Even More on Wild Earth Pet Food

Sign Up for Newsletters

Most online stores offer exclusive discounts to newsletter subscribers.

Utilize Seasonal Sales

Watch for Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and other seasonal events to score significant savings.

Join Loyalty Programs

Many stores have reward programs that let you earn points for future discounts.

The Future of Pet Food Shopping

Sustainable and Affordable Choices

Expect more affordable and innovative options as the demand for eco-friendly pet food grows.

The Rise of Online Shopping

Online shopping continues to make premium pet care products more accessible, with deals and doorstep delivery.

Conclusion

Wild Earth pet food is an excellent choice for your wild earth shark tank pet's health and the environment. And with so many online stores offering discounts, you can feed your pet well without overspending to feed your pet well. Start shopping smart and save today!

F.A.Q.s

1. Where can I find the best deals on Wild Earth pet food?

Chewy, Amazon, and Thrive Market are great starting points for deals.

2. Are subscription services worth it for pet food?

Yes! Subscriptions often come with discounts and save you the hassle of reordering.

3. How do I ensure I buy authentic Wild Earth products online?

Stick to trusted retailers like Chewy, Amazon, and Petco.

4. Can I save more by buying in bulk?

Absolutely! Bulk purchases often come with better pricing.

5. Is Wild Earth suitable for all dog breeds?

Wild Earth is designed to meet the nutritional needs of dogs of all breeds and sizes.

[music-industry-updates]

How to Boost Your Income with Deliver My Tune on YouTube

In today’s digital age, video content has become one of the most powerful mediums for communication, creativity, and monetization. Whether you’re a musician, content creator, or entrepreneur, platforms like YouTube and others provide an incredible opportunity to earn revenue. However, navigating the monetization processes across multiple platforms can be complicated and time-consuming. That’s where services like Deliver My Tune come into play. This guide will explore how you can earn from YouTube and other video platforms with the help of Deliver My Tune, offering a comprehensive look at the steps, strategies, and benefits.

Understanding Video Monetization: Why It Matters

Video platforms such as YouTube, Vimeo, and others have grown exponentially in terms of user base and engagement. Creators are not only sharing their talents and ideas but also capitalizing on the potential to earn money from their videos. With the right content strategy, creators can leverage these platforms for multiple income streams, including ad revenue, sponsorships, and fan funding.

However, monetizing video content is not just about uploading videos and enabling ads. You need to adhere to certain rules, such as having a minimum number of subscribers and watch hours to join YouTube’s Partner Program. For artists and creators who want to distribute their content across various platforms, keeping track of revenue sources and managing rights can quickly become overwhelming.

That’s where Deliver My Tune steps in. It helps creators seamlessly distribute their video content, manage royalties, and ensure they are earning revenue from platforms like YouTube and more.

Deliver My Tune’s Approach to Video Monetization

Deliver My Tune is a service that simplifies the process of content distribution and revenue collection for artists, musicians, and content creators. The platform offers comprehensive solutions to help creators monetize their videos across multiple platforms, ensuring that they don’t miss out on any potential earnings.

By using Deliver My Tune, creators can:

Distribute content effortlessly: Uploading videos to multiple platforms manually can be time-consuming. Deliver My Tune makes it easy to distribute your content to various video platforms, including YouTube, with just a few clicks.

Track revenue from multiple sources: YouTube’s monetization opportunities are plentiful, from ad revenue to premium memberships, but keeping track of your earnings from different sources can be difficult. Deliver My Tune centralizes this, providing a single dashboard where you can monitor your earnings from various platforms.

Automate royalty management: Artists and creators often face challenges in ensuring they receive the correct royalties. Deliver My Tune takes care of the complex processes of royalty management, ensuring that you get paid on time.

YouTube and Beyond: Exploring Other Platforms

While YouTube remains the dominant player in the world of video content, other platforms offer valuable opportunities for monetization. Vimeo, Dailymotion, and emerging platforms like Twitch and TikTok also provide creators with various income streams. Each platform has its unique way of rewarding creators, whether through ads, fan subscriptions, or direct tips.

Deliver My Tune ensures that you can easily distribute your content across all these platforms without needing to manage each one separately. This allows you to focus on creating content while they handle the distribution and monetization aspects. With Deliver My Tune, your videos can reach wider audiences on multiple platforms, increasing your chances of earning more.

How to Monetize on YouTube with Deliver My Tune

Monetizing on YouTube can seem straightforward, but several requirements must be met. These include having 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 public watch hours over the past 12 months to be eligible for YouTube’s Partner Program. Once you meet these criteria, YouTube offers various monetization methods:

Ad revenue: Display, overlay, and skippable video ads that run on your videos.

Channel memberships: Viewers pay a monthly fee for perks like exclusive badges, emojis, and content.

Super Chat and Super Stickers: Viewers pay to highlight their messages during live streams.

Merchandise shelf: You can promote and sell official merchandise directly from your YouTube channel.

Deliver My Tune facilitates this by making the process seamless. As a creator, you only need to focus on producing engaging content, while Deliver My Tune handles the distribution and revenue tracking aspects for you.

Why Use Deliver My Tune for YouTube Monetization?

One of the major advantages of using Deliver My Tune is that it simplifies the monetization process for content creators. Managing videos, royalties, and payments across multiple platforms can be a full-time job, especially for artists who need to focus on their craft. Deliver My Tune automates much of this, ensuring you don’t miss any revenue opportunities.

Here are some reasons why creators prefer using Deliver My Tune:

Comprehensive distribution: You no longer need to upload content to each platform individually. Deliver My Tune distributes your videos to YouTube and other platforms efficiently.

Royalty management: The platform helps you manage your royalties, ensuring timely payments for every video played.

Multiple revenue streams: By supporting multiple platforms, Deliver My Tune helps you diversify your income sources beyond just YouTube, maximizing your earnings.

Expanding Your Revenue Beyond YouTube

While YouTube is an excellent platform for monetizing video content, it’s essential to diversify your income streams. Platforms like Vimeo, Facebook Watch, and Twitch offer additional ways to earn revenue. Many of these platforms are still emerging and therefore present significant opportunities for early adopters.

For instance, Twitch, though traditionally associated with gaming, is growing in popularity among musicians and creators. Platforms like Dailymotion are also gaining traction in specific regions. Deliver My Tune helps you tap into these diverse platforms, ensuring you maximize your potential revenue streams.

Conclusion

Monetizing video content on YouTube and other platforms is more accessible than ever, but managing the process across various services can be challenging. Deliver My Tune simplifies this by offering a comprehensive solution that helps you distribute, track, and manage your content effectively. Whether you’re an independent musician, a YouTube creator, or a vlogger, Deliver My Tune can help you earn revenue seamlessly from your video content.

By focusing on creative content production while Deliver My Tune takes care of the administrative and technical aspects, you can ensure a steady stream of income from your video platforms, ultimately growing your audience and boosting your revenue.

[rickvac]

“How to Learn Spanish Without Quitting Memes: 5 Apps to Save Your Brain from Overload”

Let’s be honest, we’ve all been there

You promised yourself you’d start learning Spanish on Monday… three Mondays ago. But then a new meme, series, or cute cat on Instagram popped up, and, well… Spanish somehow got left behind. Sounds familiar? No worries, there’s a solution! We’ve gathered five apps that will help you learn Spanish without giving up your internet scrolling habits. Check them out and save your brain from a language crisis!

1. EdLock — “Spanish vs. Your Apps: Who Will Win?”

You want to check your social media? Not so fast! EdLock won’t let you dive into your memes and stories until you complete a short Spanish task. It’s your personal “language lock” on your favorite apps. While others are scrolling endlessly, you’re learning new words! It’s the perfect way to motivate yourself to study, as access to your entertainment comes through education.

Link to the site: edlock.app

Pros:

Learn on autopilot while browsing your favorite apps.

Set difficulty levels and topics to make learning more fun.

Cons:

You can’t immediately open social media, and let’s be real, that’s tough.

2. Duolingo — “Skip a Lesson, and the Owl Will Come for You”

Who doesn’t know the legendary Duolingo owl, acting like a strict parent watching your progress? If you forget to do your daily lesson, you can be sure that owl’s going to remind you! Duolingo offers a fun, gamified way to learn Spanish with tons of tests and achievements that turn learning into a real adventure.

Pros:

Completely free and accessible to everyone.

Motivational rewards and challenges to keep you going.

Cons:

Some users feel the difficulty level isn’t deep enough.

3. Memrise — “Show Memes Who’s Boss of Spanish”

Memrise isn’t just about language learning, it’s about brain training through videos with native speakers. And yes, they have memes! Useful ones, too. Learn Spanish with real people who speak as they do in real life, not just in textbooks. After this, you’ll be laughing at Spanish memes in their original form!

Pros:

Videos with native speakers so you sound like a pro.

Engaging tasks and quizzes.

Cons:

You might spend too much time watching videos instead of learning grammar.

4. Busuu — “Talk to Real People, Like a Boss”

If you want to speak Spanish fluently enough to pass as a local, Busuu is your go-to app. It lets you learn the language through conversations with native speakers. It’s perfect for mastering small talk and handling everyday situations. Study the language while exchanging knowledge with people who speak it fluently.

Pros:

Practice with real native speakers — what’s better than that?

Courses for all levels, from “I know ‘hola’” to “I’m ready for a TED Talk.”

Cons:

Full access requires a subscription, so you might need to invest in quality learning.

5. Lingvist — “Your Brain’s Personal Trainer (No Gym Membership Required)”

Lingvist uses adaptive learning to tailor lessons specifically to you. Not only are you learning Spanish, but you’re also training your memory to recall the right words at the right time (like when you’re ordering a café con leche and suddenly forget how to say ‘milk’ in Spanish). It’s like a workout for your brain, but more fun.

Pros:

Personalized lessons that adapt to your level.

Tons of vocabulary and grammar content to explore.

Cons:

The interface can feel a bit cluttered, but hey, you’re smart enough to handle it.

Conclusion

Now you know how to combine memes and learning Spanish! These five apps will help you master the language without giving up your favorite distractions. And if you want to unlock your social media feed only after learning something new, give EdLock a try — it’s sure to boost your productivity. Learning Spanish doesn’t have to be boring or overwhelming, it can be fun and fit right into your everyday routine.

Now you’re ready to become a star Spanish student without quitting your favorite memes and TV shows. ¡Vamos!

[chickenpeep77]

In a dream there was this swordsman game but at the same time it was not a game but 'real life'. (I guess I could compare it to digimon maybe?) And there was this event going on with fighting other players and playing mini games. I did like the bare minimum and only got enough points to get the first tier prize at level 15 or 16. And there was this corporate guy saying to me that if I spent real money I could get further prizes without working for it. I was like nah. He was upset that I wasn't giving into micro transactions and was content with the simple thing I got. It was a spiked hammer with an increased critical hit rate btw. Got upset when I told him I might just sell it for some reason.

Changed my mind on stopping there because I didn't have anything better to do, so I continued collecting points. Now since this game was also 'real life' at the same time it meant people were actually running around with swords. Since my dumb brain is full of anxiety, it regularly tries to give me traumatic scenarios in dreams. So this guy was about to attack this chicken coop, but I was like nah you can't do that. So I killed his character over and over and over again and finally forced him to join my team to win more points for me. I was playing as my Marx (Kirby au) as I often do, btw, so I was kinda overpowered.

Won up to the 99th level in points, and turns out in order to access the last reward at level 100, you have to buy a membership. Guy offered me a membership to buy. All enthusiastic salesman about it. I was like nah. Was so angry looking at me content with the cool prizes I had already won. I remember getting a castle home, and some cows. He was so angry him and his colleagues conspired and sent this powerful boss from further into the game past a membership/pay real money point at me. It was a hay golem above my level. It was supposed to have obliterated me, assuming I just had some basic weapons, but they had no idea who the heck they were dealing with. I simply spammed it with my fire breath he didn't know I had (probably counted as cheating but he cheated first) until it was slain and I reaped the high level rewards.

Side thing that happened at one point: Some secret lore about my Marx (Kirby au) is that he's got beef with the greys. So he sees them trying to abduct someone and he's like heck no not on my watch. He sprouted his wings and initiated a boss battle with their ship, destroyed it and rescued the guy.

Also at the beginning of the dream when I wasn't quite aware that I was dreaming yet and I saw one of those both halves human centaurs I was freaking out about it, not because it was a human human centaur, but because it had a face similar to my late grandma so I was like hey wait a minute that can't happen. Later found it and its family; apologized and told them centaurs are cool. Traumatic twist is that these were due to crazy mutation with a high child mortality rate. Thank you dreams. Very cool.

[creatcreed]

How to Make Money Online Without Investment

With the internet, there are plenty of ways to make money online without spending any amount upfront. Regardless of if you want to generate a side income or even create an online business that is circulation independent, here are several ways which you can do so without having any upfront financial investment to begin.

Freelancing If we talk about the platforms where you can start your work is simply freelancing. Freelancers who provide numerous services connect with clients on websites such as Upwork, Fiverr, and Freelancer. Whether you can write, design graphics or websites, do marketing or any other skillful work — You name that trade and collect on it. Build a strong profile, flaunt your work portfolio and bid on relevant projects that you have the capability to deliver.

Internet polls and also marketing research Everyone knows that companies are always looking for consumer opinions on what they can do to get their products and services better. With survey reward websites such as Swagbucks, Survey Junkie, and Vindale Research you can get paid for answering questions based on campaigns conducted by businesses. This will probably not make you a millionaire, but it’s one drop in the ocean and an easy way to earn while chilling lazily on your couch.

Blogging Blogging Blogging is one of the ways by which you can share your passions and expertise with others while earning money online. You can even start a blog for free using platforms like WordPress and Blogger. After you create valuable content and grow your audience, making money from your blog by using affiliate marketing or sponsored posts, selling digital products such as e-books & course. The earning capability of a blog is huge even though it takes time to grow your brand.

Affiliate Marketing Affiliate Marketing: sell someone else's shit for 50% or more profits on each sale made through your referral link Affiliate networks (such as Amazon Associates, ClickBank, or ShareASale) offer you a range of different affiliate programs to sign up for. You simply create content around the products you are promoting (blog post, social media posts, or on YouTube videos etc…) then send traffic to your affiliate links in order for people that landing at those links and buy from them so that way you will earn commissions.

Content Creation on YouTube In present time, YouTube has changed the life of many content creators amazed by the kind of money they earn from this platform. If you like creating videos then why not start a YouTube Channel and put out content on stuff that interests you. After you've achieved (1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours in the past year) YouTube monetization requirements; they are: Ad revenue Through channel memberships Super Chat donations You can also work directly with brands for sponsored content as well.

Selling Digital Products I mean, if you have knowledge on a given subject try making digital products like e-books or even online courses and printables. Teachable, Udemy, and Gumroad are platforms where you can use to create digital products for sale. This method takes time and effort to create your products but can potentially allow you a residual way of making money once your product is up there for sale.

Social Media Management Businesses need people to manage their social media. If you feel proficient in social media and how to make it pop, then these are the services that can be offered — Social Media Management Common job posting websites like Indeed or LinkedIn do offer remote social media manager positions. You can also contact the area small businesses for your services as well.

Virtual Assistance VAs(NOT VA for the dirty minded!) stand as Virtual Assistants who provide administrative support to companies and entrepreneurs. Jobs can range from managing emails, to organizing calendars and schedules for your clients, everything else is tied along the lines of data entry and providing customer/customer service etc. On other websites you can find these virtual assistant jobs, like Virtual Assistant Jobs and Fancy Hands. Being a Postmates Delivery Driver allows you to set your own hours and work from the comfort of home.

Online Tutoring Become an online tutor; providing tuition to students for subjects you know. Websites like Tutor. Sites like tutors. com, Chegg Tutors, and Wyzant have a network of available tutors looking to tutor students with some extra cashtags on hand. Many models are adaptable and thrive on new subjects ranging from math, science to languages or even test prep. Its a way where you can make money in ways of sharing knowledge with others as all are paid.

Microtasks Sites like Amazon Mechanical Turk and Clickworker offer small tasks for payment. These can be data entry, content moderation or web research tasks. The pay per task is quite low, but the tasks are short and can add up over time.

Online without investment to make money, how is it possible? It could be anything whether freelancing, blogging, affiliate marketing, or any other method but consistency and efforts are going to make you succeed. And all of these options allow you to work online and be location-independent, something that is becoming more common now than ever before.

[govindhtech]

Google Play Points be Redeemed For Popular Game Rewards

Google Pay Points Redeem

Your digital purchases from the Google Play Store receive a valuable and entertaining boost from Google Play Points. Play Points enables you to accumulate points that can be exchanged for thrilling prizes by rewarding you for regular actions like downloading apps, purchasing in-app purchases, and even playing free games. For some of the top played games on the platform, this also includes in-app freebies.

We’ll go into Google Play Points in-depth in this extensive article and show you how to use them to improve your gaming experience. We’ll discuss:

Comprehending Google Play Points

What they are, how to sign up, and the various membership levels.

Earning Play Points

There are other methods to accrue Play Points, such as regular purchases and exclusive offers.

Utilising Play Points for Well-Known Games

Examining the different kinds of in-app incentives that are accessible and the well-known titles that are involved.

Maximizing Your Play Points

Getting the most out of the programme and maximising your play points some strategies to try and do.

The Disclosure of Google Play Points

The Google Play Store offers a free loyalty programme called Google Play Points, which you may earn for using it. Merely utilising the Play Store for your electronic requirements can yield points that can be exchanged for worthwhile incentives. An outline of the main points is as follows:

Registering

Play Points registration is simple. Most people with Google accounts have it activated automatically. You may access your Play Points balance by launching the Play Store app, pressing the symbol for your profile, and choosing “Play Points.”

Membership Tiers

Platinum, Gold, Silver, and Bronze are the membership tiers that Play Points offers. You level up as you accrue points over the course of a year, opening up weekly extra points and improved point-earning rates.

How to Earn Play Points to Reward Yourself

Compiling Play Points and moving up the membership tiers can be done in number of ways. Here are the main techniques:

Purchases

You receive points for each dollar you spend on apps, in-app purchases, movies, ebooks, and music on the Play Store. Based on the location, the basic rate starts at one point for every $1 spent.

Trials of Free applications

You may also earn some Play Points by testing out featured free applications and games. While earning points, this is an excellent method to find new titles.

Special Offers

Google Play periodically offers offers in which you can receive additional points for completing particular tasks or purchases. Watch for these possibilities to increase the amount of Play Points you receive.

How to Accumulate Play Points

Using Play Points to purchase in-app items in well-known games is among the most thrilling uses for them. Depending on how many game developers participate, different awards may be given. Some examples of these are:

In-game money

You can purchase special things, unlock new characters, and speed up your progress by accumulating virtual coins, gems, or diamonds.

Boosts & power-ups

Add momentary advantages, unique skills, or in-game consumables to your gaming to elevate your experience.

Cosmetic Items

Customise your avatar, weaponry, skins, and clothing to make your game experience more distinctive.

You can find redeemable gifts with Play Points in the following popular game genres:

Role-playing games (RPGs)

Upgrade your character’s gear, get access to strong abilities, and find uncommon resources to increase their strength.

Action Games

Purchase booster packs, obtain special strategic components, or quicken the production of resources.

Puzzle Games

Open new levels, get power-ups to assist you get through difficult sections, or get access to exclusive instructions.

Casual Games

Play casual games? To improve your experience, load up on boosters, extra lives, or cosmetics.

The Play Points programme for in-app prizes is not available for all games, so keep that in mind. Verify whether Play Points can be redeemed within the particular game at all times.

Sweeter Rewards Accomplish Higher Tiers

A tiered structure governs Google Play Points. You’ll level up and gain access to more advantages as you accrue points over the course of a year.

Faster Point Accumulation

More tiers provide you a multiplier on your base points received for every dollar spent, which allows for faster point accumulation. This allows you to accrue points even more quickly and encourages continuing participation.

Weekly Bonus Points

As you advance through the tiers, you’ll frequently be rewarded with a weekly bonus of Play Points that will help you prioritise your next redemption.

Extraordinary Benefits

Aside from points, certain tiers may provide extraperks. Potential benefits for high-tier Play Points members could include exclusive in-game content, early access to new titles, and special discounts.

Important Things to Think About

The involvement of developers

Not every game in the Play Store is eligible for Google Play Points, so it’s vital to know that. Not every games you play will provide you the opportunity to redeem points. If you want to make sure a game is participating, look for the Google Play Points logo in the Play Store description.

Revolving Awards

From time to time, the particular in-app purchases and savings that are redeemable with Play Points may vary. You are encouraged to return frequently to see new incentives, which keeps the programme engaging.

Geolocation

Although Google Play Points can be found in numerous nations, the particular incentives and programme specifics may vary based on your location.

Read more on Govindhtech.com

[udo0stories]

With rising prices for food, gas, and energy, it is imperative to save money on necessities. Even though inflation is expected to start declining soon, if you are anything like us, you are constantly searching for methods to cut costs. If you shop at Sam's Club, you probably already know how important it is to save money, but there might be perks associated with membership that you are not fully utilizing. Whether you have a Club membership ($50/year) or a Plus membership ($110/year), we have broken down how to save money at Sam's Club and the benefits you might be missing out on. Sam's Club membership Sign up for Sam's Club to get exclusive savings, perks, and more. Club membership benefits 1. Instant Savings If you’re an online Sam’s Club shopper, you might want to take a look at the Instant Savings landing page. The page is devoted to periodically changing monthly sales on everything from tech to household necessities. Additionally, instant savings are available in-store, so be sure to watch for announcements about what is on sale there each month. 2. Sam's Cash Credit: Sam's Club During your membership year, you can earn rewards from Sam's Cash by making qualifying purchases. Sam's Cash is a very simple to earn cash back rewards program that can be used to pay for memberships, spent in-store or online at any Sam's Club, and redeemed at Member Services. There are two methods to begin earning Sam's Cash: Get Bonus Offers by linking an eligible Mastercard, Visa, or American Express card to qualify for dining, shopping, and other purchases made outside of the Club; or Get 1% cash back on Sam's Club purchases when you apply for a Sam's Club Mastercard. 3. Members-only fuel savings Credit: Sam's Club Members of Sam's Club typically receive weekly savings at the pump of 7–10%. In certain locations, Sam's Club offers exclusive fuel savings to its members, allowing you to pay less at the pump. Use the Sam's Club store locator to find the closest gas station and the cost of gas for each type of fuel to save money on gas. Even though gas prices change frequently, each time you fill up, you should save between $0.05 and $0.15 per gallon. 4. Tire and battery center No matter where your tires were bought, Sam's Club offers free tire repair as a benefit of membership at any of its tire and battery centers. (The tires must be repaired in accordance with USTMA (U.S. Tire Manufacturers Association) guidelines.) You can read more about all the tire and battery center services here. Additionally, members will receive free air pressure checks, battery testing, wiper blade installation, and more. You can read about all the tire and battery center services here. In addition to free balancing and tire rotation for the life of the tire, Sam's Club members receive exclusive benefits when they buy tires. 5. Complimentary and discounted add-on memberships If you have a Sam's Club membership, you can also get a free, complimentary card for another member of your household. After that, you can add up to 8 more members for a discounted fee of $45 each, after which each member will receive a free upgrade for another member. Pretty cute, huh? Plus, membership benefits 6. Free shipping and curbside pickup Credit: Sam's Club You can place an online or Sam's Club app order and pick it up contact-free with free curbside pickup. While Club members only receive free shipping on items with the "Free shipping" label, Plus members receive free shipping on most online items, which will be denoted with the "Free shipping for Plus" or "Free shipping" label. While Club members must pay $4 for curbside pickup, Plus members can also take advantage of it for free—just order online, pay, and park, and a Sam's Club member will load up your car for you. 7. Pharmacy savings Credit: Sam's Club Save up to 80% on retail prices at participating pharmacies with Sam's Club pharmacy savings. Prescription discounts are available to Sam's Club Plus members at any Sam's Club pharmacy, saving them money.

Plus subscribers can get a 30-day supply of more than 600 generic medications for $10 or less, along with free generic prescriptions that are included in this list. To view the drug prices, formulation, strength, and quantity that are available to Plus members, visit the Rx Savings page. 8. Savings through optics You can receive 20% off a full-price pair of prescription sunglasses or eyeglasses (frames and lenses) if you are a Plus member and have a valid prescription. Additionally, members will get free shipping on contacts. 9. Earn even more Sam's Cash Plus members (and complimentary household members) earn 2% Sam's Cash on their in-club purchases instead of the 1% cash back for Club members. This can add up to $500 annually. This is one of the best benefits available to Plus members as it is more than three times the price of a Plus membership. 10. 3% back in Sam’s Cash with a Sam’s Club Mastercard Credit: Sam's Club A Sam's Club Mastercard entitles you to savings on electronics, bulk groceries, and other items. In addition to the usual benefits, Plus members who have a Sam's Club Mastercard will receive 3% back in Sam's Cash on Sam's Club purchases. Sam's Cash back is 5% on gas (up to a maximum of $6,000 annually), 3% on dining, and 1% on other purchases.

[wealthowl]

The Ultimate Guide to Getting Free Gift Cards to Olive Garden

Are you a fan of delicious Italian cuisine? Do you enjoy the warm and cozy atmosphere of Olive Garden restaurants? If so, you're in luck! In this comprehensive guide, we'll show you how to get free gift cards to Olive Garden, allowing you to indulge in your favorite dishes without spending a dime. Whether you're looking to treat yourself or surprise a loved one with a special meal, these tips and tricks will help you satisfy your cravings while saving money.

Why Olive Garden?

Before we dive into the details of obtaining free gift cards, let's take a moment to appreciate what makes Olive Garden such a beloved restaurant chain. With its extensive menu of Italian classics, including mouthwatering pasta dishes, flavorful soups, and delectable desserts, Olive Garden has become a go-to destination for food lovers across the United States. The restaurant's commitment to quality ingredients and exceptional service has earned it a dedicated fan base and numerous accolades in the industry.

How to Get Free Gift Cards to Olive Garden

1. Online Surveys and Rewards Programs

One popular method of obtaining free gift cards is by participating in online surveys and rewards programs. Many companies offer these opportunities as a way to gather valuable consumer insights. By sharing your opinions and completing various tasks, such as watching videos or playing games, you can earn points that can be redeemed for gift cards. Look for reputable survey websites and rewards programs that offer Olive Garden gift cards as a reward option.

2. Social Media Contests and Giveaways

Another way to score free gift cards to Olive Garden is by keeping an eye out for social media contests and giveaways. Many companies, including Olive Garden, run promotions on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, where they give away gift cards to lucky winners. Follow Olive Garden's official social media accounts and set up notifications to stay updated on any ongoing contests or giveaways. Participate actively, and you might just be the lucky recipient of a free gift card.

3. Join Olive Garden's eClub

If you're a frequent visitor to Olive Garden, joining their eClub is a no-brainer. Not only will you receive exclusive offers and updates directly in your inbox, but you'll also be eligible for special promotions and discounts. Olive Garden occasionally rewards their eClub members with free gift cards, making it a worthwhile membership to have. Signing up is quick and easy, and the benefits can be substantial.

4. Purchase Gift Cards at a Discount

While this method may not provide completely free gift cards, it's a great way to save money on your Olive Garden dining experiences. Look for reputable websites or retailers that offer discounted gift cards. These platforms often sell gift cards at a fraction of their face value, allowing you to enjoy a meal at Olive Garden for less. Keep an eye out for special promotions or sales, as they can provide even bigger savings.

5. Join Olive Garden's Loyalty Program

Olive Garden offers a loyalty program called "Olive Garden Rewards." By signing up for this program, you can earn points for every dollar you spend at Olive Garden, both in-restaurant and online. Once you accumulate enough points, you can redeem them for free gift cards. Additionally, Olive Garden Rewards members enjoy exclusive perks, such as birthday surprises and personalized offers. It's a fantastic way to make your dining experiences even more rewarding.

Tips for Maximizing Your Free Gift Card Opportunities

Now that you know how to get free gift cards to Olive Garden, let's explore some tips to help you make the most of these opportunities.

1. Stay Active and Engaged

Whether you're participating in online surveys, entering social media contests, or joining loyalty programs, it's crucial to stay active and engaged. Set aside dedicated time each day or week to complete surveys, check for new contests, or interact with Olive Garden's social media posts. The more effort you put in, the higher your chances of winning free gift cards.

2. Read the Fine Print

Before participating in any survey, rewards program, or contest, make sure to read the fine print. Understand the terms and conditions, eligibility requirements, and any restrictions that may apply. This will help you make informed decisions and avoid any disappointments.

3. Be Mindful of Scams

While there are legitimate opportunities to obtain free gift cards, it's essential to be mindful of scams. Be cautious of websites or programs that ask for your personal information or financial details. Stick to reputable platforms and always do your research before sharing any sensitive information.

4. Set Realistic Expectations

While free gift cards can be a fantastic way to save money, it's important to set realistic expectations. Don't rely solely on obtaining gift cards to Olive Garden for all your dining needs. Instead, view them as occasional treats or special occasions. By managing your expectations, you can fully enjoy the moments when you do receive a free gift card.

Conclusion

Treat yourself to a delightful dining experience at Olive Garden without breaking the bank by following these tips and tricks to get free gift cards. Whether you choose to participate in online surveys, enter social media contests, join Olive Garden's eClub, purchase discounted gift cards, or take advantage of their loyalty program, you'll be able to savor the flavors of Italy while saving money. Remember to stay active, read the fine print, and be mindful of scams. With a little effort and a sprinkle of luck, you'll be enjoying a delicious meal at Olive Garden in no time. Buon appetito!