"
Yes. I'm part of five giveaways at the moment of typing this. Animal Crossing Merchant Emporium, Animal Crossing Enterprises, Animal Crossing Shoppe©, Catlover's Purrfect Little Shop and The Simple Giveaway."

"
I've been at CPLS the longest, since September of 2008. I've been with ACME the second longest, since it was being planned and everything. It has been open since April, and I'm working there since. I've been with ACS since early June. I recently started this past weeks with TSG and ACe. "

"
Yes, I'm co-owning ACe with SHINee."

"
Yes. I did worked for JUG. I joined that giveaway 8/8/2008 and stayed with them until it's closure.

"I'm currently only working for Animal Crossing Merchant Emporium (ACME) as the Executive Director alongside VenusKamal and The Official Newbie Giveaway (TONG) as an Item Distributor. In the old days I was part of Johntown327's Unlimited Giveaway (JUG) as an Executive Director, Ian's Monster Giveaway on their council and United Services (?) Giveaway as an owner."

"I've been in ACME since the beginning, when JUG closed; I helped create it. TONG since I joined as a Scout on December 1st, 2008. JUG I was in from May 6th, 2007 - February 22nd, 2009. I wouldn't know for the last two."

"Yes, I did. Only United Services Giveaway, although I've been on the "Board of Directors" for all other giveaways I've been involved in."

"I worked there for a long time, and for a full story, I've included my story that I posted in my BT and on JUG's Giveaway board when Johntown327 decided to shut it down, on February 20th, 2009.

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Imagine a fifteen year old, sitting at her computer, typing this up, in a locked room upstairs. “She has no life” you might say, if she’s sad over something as trivial as something online. But let me share with everyone, this was, and still is, a life. Let me start, way back in 2007....

I was surfing around the internet one day, way back in 2007. I had just turned fourteen two weeks ago. I was a big fan of AC:WW, and thought one day of searching Google to see if any fan sites were out there with it. I automatically came across ACC, and joined right up on March 21st. After being adopted by camilla, I quickly learned my way around the site, and wified with quite a few people.

It was then that I started finding out about the other boards. About the Giveaway board. I was dumbfounded that anyone would want to spend their time giving away free items to others, with nothing in return. Who would be stupid enough to do that? I would never even consider joining one.

And, as you probably have seen, that changed. I began to love ACC, and came into contact with some great people (Kharaya and gggtownresident in particular, who are still friends with me to this day ). One day I received a job offer to become a landscaper at Johntown327’s Unlimited Giveaway, and thought “What the heck?” and passed the interview. amaranth_256 gave me an orientation, and on May 6th, 2007, I became a worker of JUG.

I was amazed. It was fun to help others, going to other towns, seeing people’s faces when their town became beautiful; all because of me! For eight months, I was a landscaper. I remember December of 2007, I had a steep slope. Even went on probation for two weeks because I wasn’t doing work correctly. Thankfully, I pulled it back up.

Then amaranth_256 quit. I had only known her a few months, but she would be missed. calculusgoddess, an Interior Designer, was to take her place. Nobles of AC:WW Services came up, and Duchess Gyseria, Head of Landscaping, became my nickname. Until this day, I keep her story of it in my profile.

In January of 2008, I got an interview from Chris (Johntown327). He wanted to interview me for AC:WW Services Secretary (back then, Interior Designers, Clothing Designers and Landscapers were all in one department). Excited that my work had been noticed (and by the boss, no less!), I filled out the interview no closer to perfection. I was certain that I got it.

But that was not the case. I was beaten by runepower. I was saddened, but realized I still had a lot to learn, and worked harder. Luck must have been with me; on April 3rd, 2008, I had passed the interview and had become a secretary. I didn’t know it then, but I was on the fast track to the top.

I probably worked even harder, claiming about seventy orders every month (I never reached that one hundred mark). One particular event I remember during this was the secretary week, where all the secretaries were honored, which was hosted by the Staff Wellness Committee (headed by lukieboy). I was so proud; I was being honored! Of course, an ego kind of developed…..not a good thing.

Then, probably on the last day of June, I received a PT from Chris, addressed to everyone. There was going to be a major reconstructure. Records would start being kept on all staff members, and Department Managers and Vice Presidents became jobs. And I had been chosen to become the Landscaping Manager. On June 3rd, 2007, I became JUG’s first Landscaping Manager. My happiness soared, and my ego grew larger. As well, I started saving all my PTs from June onwards….a full history of JUG is on my computer since this point.

Then in July, a weekend happened where biffy-boy (Jacob) wasn’t on. Chris posted in the secretaries’ PT asking if anyone would take over as an Interim until Jacob came back. It took me all of one minute to post and say I would be happy to do it.

I was given a quick orientation, and I saw the Executive Board’s Information PT. From July 1st-3rd, I saw a flash of what it was like to be a VP. Amazing experience, but a taste of power was set in.

On July 30th, assistants for all Department Managers and Vice Presidents were set into place. As I had already filled in before, I was given the AVP (Assistant Vice President) job, and was again added to all PTs (interviews, Executive Board, etc). I also met one of my best friends, ShadowMaker13 (Mousie). After seeing how excellent she was, I convinced Venuskamal (Andre) and Chris to make her my ADM (Assistant Department Manager).

I also (finally!!!!!) got AIM. And I started talking to people on there. After a few convos on there, I became best friends with another JUG employee, ZacharyTheOwl (Zach). Between JUG, Mousie and Zach, I was in happiness for at least a month. And a mother figure came into view for me, who I’m still friends with to this day; SmileNJenn (Jenn) became another close friend of mine. And acGAL73 (Sam) would probably throw a fit if I didn’t say she became a friend too, almost like another sister.

Then, among my family, I had fainted on one cold night, August 13th, 2008. I had learned that my brother (who was 17 at the time) was going to have a baby, and I was going to be an aunt come the end of December. And just two days later, my step-grandmother died of ovarian cancer. In memory of her, I put a memorial in my profile, and it will stay there until the end of time.

Over the summer, talk had sprung up about creating a Floral Service. On August 30th, Chris contacted me on AIM. We began talking (and I have no idea what we said, as I didn’t start logging my AIM convos until August 31st), and I had basically told him that I knew I was the only person to become another VP of Services, alongside Jacob. A little cocky, even in the beginning…..

"On September 21st, 2008, I became JUG’s Second Vice President of Services. I was officially on the Executive Board, and I was psyched. After a week of talking about a possible merge with WFS, we decided against it, and within another week I had drawn up JUG’s Floral Shop, and it became public. A week as a VP, and I had already created a new job; how perfect.

A few months passed, and I learned a lot during this time period. 1) I couldn’t please everyone, there would always be someone mad and 2) I had some humble pie. I learned that there would always be someone out there who is better then me.

On November 30th, 2008, I became friends with Acclover44 (Cassi). She’s probably one of the best friends I have (talk about getting hyper! O>O). Also, around 1:30 PM on that day, I checked my PT inbox and was SHOCKED to see this title: Scout Invitation – aldericon from cmh. So for about two minutes, I ran around the house screaming my head off (no one was home, so I had freedom to do so). I quickly accepted, and less then twenty-four hours later, I became an ACC Scout alongside Ryan_17 (Ryan) and swimnhamstr999 (Jen), both who I talk to on pretty much a daily basis.

I quickly became friends with loosefaith, BowserBasher (Simon), The Crossing Raven (Tom), prshack (Paul), SDOG1234 (Steph), Peter01 (Peter), animama, camilla, cownessness (James), Machoman123 (Nick), lukieboy (Luke), scotch, Squirrelzan (Farah) and Titandwedebil (Titan). You guys make my world go round.

December 1st, around 6 PM at night, Chris IMed me again. We had become friends the past few months, and he asked me to become his Executive Director from the reconstructure plan. I was shocked. Scout and Executive at the same time? It was a perfect day (and I probably mentioned this to Zach about a thousand times xD). I brought JUG into the new age, and was at my happiest for weeks.

Then on December 31st, Cassi and I decided to stay up for twenty-four hours! Great plan, right? WRONG! From 6 AM – 6 AM January 1st, we stayed up, and for nine hours of that day we probably spent on the microphone over AIM. We became close friends, and I’m happy to call Cassi a sister-like figure (*sighs as Zach, Luke and Chris glare at me* Don’t worry, you guys are all like brothers to me! *hugs*). Needless to say, learn a lesson from this: Never stay up for twenty-four hours straight, you will have a headache!

JUG also celebrated its fifth birthday! I was happy to have been here for so long. Actually amazed that I was even still on ACC for so long. I guess I owe that to so many of my friends that I’m still here. As Zach once said to Mousie “Friends make life good; Best friends make it better”. *nods* He was right (as I find that he usually is ).

Then, on January 6th, my brother’s girlfriend had my niece at 4:01 PM. Lainey Jane entered my life, and so a baby did as well.

During this time, my friendships grew. I was talking to Zach, Cassi, Mousie and Chris almost everyday. All four of them became very close to me, and I want to take this moment just to thank them. I don’t know how to say it (I’d probably hug you to death in real life), but you guys….wow. If friendship bonds were what told people how long they lived, I would live forever just from the four of you.

In the middle of January, we lost a great director and friend of mine, Luke. He has life to worry about, as we all do. He had hoped to come back to JUG one day too. He’s an awesome friend, one I hope I will always have. *hugs*

Then, on February 18th, 2009, I got an IM from Zach around 5:30 PM: “When you return [from dinner], don’t kill me”. Frantic, I searched ACC for what would have caused him to say this. I saw it first on the Staff Board, a thread from Zach. I clicked it, and read that he would be resigning from the ACC Staff. Then, reading my PT inbox seconds later, found out that he would be leaving JUG as well.

I couldn’t say I was shocked. I had seen that he was getting less and less out of ACC, and JUG as a whole, although he loved them still. Chris IMed me that night, and I practically told him to hug Zach if he wanted him to stay (he was one heck of a Promotions Director). I accepted it, but regardless, a few stray tears fell on my computer before I regained control.

And then, on February 19th, 2009, I had just come back from Driving Lessons when I got an IM from Chris, around 3:15 PM. Within a minute, I was upstairs in my room staring at the screen, my mind going everywhere; Chris had just told me that he planned to close JUG down, after five years.

I was shocked. I didn’t see this coming at all; why was JUG closing? Usually giveaways only closed if the giveaway ran downhill, if it wasn’t doing well. Chris explained to me best he could: JUG had run its course. It was time to let it “die in dignity”. At the beginning of the conversation, we went over the possibility of me taking over JUG, but it was quickly dismissed; what was JUG without Chris? It would still have it’s body, but it would lose its soul.

So, that night, he sent out the PT to all the JUG staff. I saw it, and I couldn’t help myself: I started crying. I couldn’t help it at all; the tears came fast, making me start crying everytime someone IMed me about it. Plenty of people wanted me to take Chris’ place. “If I just pass it on, it'll still be there, it'll still be on my mind, I'll still be concerned for its success…. And it would defeat the whole purpose. If I wanted to do that I'd just step back like I did a year ago and say to VK or you, "Run the show."” ~ Johntown327. But that will not be happening. ‘An executive is a person who always decides; sometimes he decides correctly, but he always decides.’

After five wonderful years of magic and fun, JUG is going. I had poured my heart and soul into it, as did many others, too many to name. We had a family here, and any of you are free to PT/IM me anytime.

So here I give my story. I give you, my family, the reasons why I’m here today, why I wrote this up. I love JUG with all my heart. And when you truly love something, you have to know when to let it go.

Goodbye Johntown327’s Unlimited Giveaway. We shall miss you. <3