Last Day at American Girl Place

Today was my last day working at the American Girl Place on 5th Avenue in NYC.

It was a seasonal job that began maybe 2 or 3 weeks after I moved here.  Looking back (even though I got home only a few hours ago), it seems like such a whirlwind, bizarre, and informative experience.  Like, as strange as it was to be working a crazy retail job as an art college graduate with decent employment history, when I was actually there, helping customers and busy it didn't seem as awkward and strange.  I guess that's what "being in the present" is about or whatever.

I learned...:

~People aren't always what they seem -- especially when working with people that seem a lot different from you, or like they wouldn't like you, it can actually be quite the opposite and you can be very pleasantly surprised.

~Really, just be yourself. It's much easier and the right people will like you.  Make the effort to talk to those you work with because it'll make your time soo much easier and more worthwhile.

~(*With that being said*) Act, Act, Act... To lessen your chances of fucking up. Just do your best to seem on pointe because hopefully you won't have to fake it till much longer.

These seem really obvious, but when you're thrown into a completely new interpersonal work and location environment, these aphorisms truly get tested and start to seem more irl. Or they are disguised in  different, less glamorous manner.  Overall, I just hope this experience means growth; but, I think that it has, just by the nature of surviving it.

And maybe most importantly:::

~DOLLS ARE STILL AWESOME.  (((ESPECIALLY DOLLS WITH STORIES AND DETAILED WORLDS)))  I utilized my employee discount on the very last weekend which was smart because it kept me from going totally ham throughout the season and I got to spend time thinking about what I wanted and really trying to narrow it down as I worked.  So, I ended up choosing:

Day 1:

-Kit's School Lunch (eep, super vintage and cute)
-Julie's School Lunch (also, very retro and fun)
-Kit's Reporter Set
-Samantha's Bedtime Accessories

Day 2:

-Doll Photoshoot Book
-Floral Puppy Collar (very pop and decided I wanted it more than the orange plastic spike one I wanted before)
-Samantha's Dog, Jip (EEEEE I love him! Such a nice looking dog)

I'm very excited to open these and hopefully do something cool with them, or at least use as color and product inspiration.  I've been really interested in production design and the idea of getting into stop motion animation design in the future so I hope these will give me some ideas for cool still life scenes or combining premade toys/objects with my own textile backgrounds or something for some trippy snapshots???

So I'm 26 and excited about my doll accessory purchases as I was when 9 or 10 but it's probably about time for me to just give up on feeling normal... As David Lynch says, ""Inside, we are ageless and when we talk to ourselves, it’s the same age of the person we were talking to when we were little. It’s the body that is changing around that ageless centre"  This makes me feel sooo much better. :) Thanks, timely Eraserhead screening last night.