Old News

That's me. I am old news. I leave Los Angeles in a mere 13 days. I expect to be missed. But oh! How soon the young and brave (for a lack of more appropriate but less impressive adjectives) are forgotten! I have already been replaced! A new intern came into the archive on Saturday to solidify her position. I felt betrayed and cast aside. I had not even thought of packing and Steve had already shipped in a new girl to man (woman?) the machines. I had no clue what emotions hid behind the woman who strode into the archive that Saturday afternoon sporting a gray sweatshirt with a Mickey Mouse shaped American flag across the chest. (From boxers to sweatshirts, I own far less animation related clothing than many of the people I have come in contact with through the archive. In fact, I own none). But back to Saturday. . . Little did I know that behind that smiley and friendly exterior lay (wait for it) my replacement.
I smiled back at her as I explained my terribly complex job of burning DVDs and placing them into binders in the correct order so that they can later be taken out again and catalogued. I have to admit that it is comforting to know that someone will be able to continue to keep the archive organized after I am gone, I just didn't expect to "train" her let alone know she existed. I believe she found out about the possibility of interning for ASIFA-Hollywood from the video tour Steve made of the archive in which I am referred to as the intern. I should have known that with fame come troubles.
Perhaps I hyperbolize a bit too much than is necessary, but sharing my archival secrets so soon was not something I was fully prepared for on Saturday. I expected the archive to lament my departure and then search in vain for someone to fill my frequently complemented sneakers before finally finding someone who I would never know about. However, this only makes me more determined to finish the job I started so that I will lovingly be remembered as the intern who built a database! And the intern who cleaned Steve's office. Goodness, talk about a challenge! We also did that on Saturday. Cleaning and organizing, while difficult to get me going, is always so rewarding!
I am resigned. I will not be threatened. After all, I am the one leaving Burbank behind and not the other way around. Although it was suggested I drop out of school and move down here. But I have a feeling that there is still more waiting for me at Dartmouth and I am keen to discover what that is. So I will impart all my knowledge to the new intern and be satisfied knowing the archive is in capable hands trained by me.