Technically a Senior?

April 23, 2018 by Reagan Fleming in college

Let's recap:

Almost as soon as I hit the middle-marker for the fall semester (my last semester of junior year - I know, I'm confusing), I spilled coffee on my laptop. And yes, it was completely fried. No, I did not save any of my work on an external drive or even Google Docs, and yes, this was insanely dumb. Did I completely lose all of my important documents, including the book I was working on? Yes. Sadly, the way that I ruined my computer isn't even a good story:

I was at Starbucks with some friends, and the barista gave me a venti americano instead of a grande. When we sat down to do homework, I sat with one friend, and the other friend was at a table by herself. That friend at the table by herself started talking about a TLC show she watched, and my ears immediately perked up because I'm a sucker for TLC reality shows. I turned to tell her a funny little quip about the show and somehow hooked my arm around the cup and knocked it onto my computer. Miraculously, the lid didn't fall off, but only a tablespoon or so of coffee fell on the keys. But, it was enough for the computer to never fully turn on again. (Cue Sarah McLachlan). I was so in shock at what had just happened that when the barista came over to make conversation and check in, I was completely silent.

Now, fast forward to the tail-end of the spring semester, and I'm officially a first-semester senior! (Insert a fun little jig). It's kind of surreal, actually, because after the next summer and fall semesters, I will be a college graduate. Woah.

This semester has been the best semester thus far; I feel like I have grown as a person, student, and writer. And I've finally updated some things on my website! Hello, new "Words" folder! Here, I have 3 pages that you can peruse through; the "Poems" page, "Essays" page (which I will post essays on shortly), and the "Published Works" page.

Currently, I am...

Reading: The Spectacular Now by Tim Tharp

I'm reading this book for my Young Adult Literature class and using it as a primary source for my senior paper. (Let me just pause for a moment and say how great it is to be studying things in college that I truly enjoy.) It's a really good book, but it's a fantastic movie that stars Shailene Woodley and Miles Teller. Fun fact: it was produced by the same movie production company as Lady Bird!

Listening to: Troye Sivan and Dermot Kennedy

Honestly, I never get sick of Troye's music - please, oh please, go on tour.

Watching: 30 Rock and new episodes of New Girl

I mean, did we really think that I wouldn't be watching 30 Rock all the days of my life? And the newest season of New Girl isn't terrible!

Reagan Fleming

New York

January 06, 2018 by Reagan Fleming in travels

Over this Christmas break, I was able to visit my sister in New York; we went to hot yoga classes, restaurants, a movie theater (I, Tonya is a great movie, by the way), bookstores, shops, and many many coffee shops. (We are coffee people.) The trip lasted for a little less than a week, and then we flew home on Christmas day. While in New York, we stayed in Brooklyn most of the time, but we also went to Soho, Herald Square, Flatiron, etc. And for any of you 30 Rock fans out there (I know there aren't many): we saw Jenna Maroney (aka Jane Krakowski) hailing a taxi, a mere feet from us! Weirdly enough, I didn't take as many pictures as I thought I would; I got caught up just sightseeing and exploring that I forgot to take more pictures than I knew what to do with. Thankfully, I took enough to make a blog post out of it - I hope you enjoy.

First, let's all marvel at the fact that the Brooklyn Public Library looks like this - my camera didn't alter the swoop of the roof... Heck, let's just marvel at both the BPL and New York Public Library.

With the NYPL in particular, I was amazed at the solid marble floors, the walkway leading up to the inside, the walls, and the intricate ceilings.

The inside of the New York Public Library

Any bookstore that has a spiral staircase wins me over. (Housing Works Bookstore Café)

One day, we walked across the Brooklyn Bridge. Was there a designated bike path for bikers and another for people walking? Yes. Did the walkers still walk in the bike lane and get yelled at by said bikers? Yes. Other than jumping out of my skin every time a biker whizzed past us, yelling at rule-breaking pedestrians, the walk across the bridge was chilly and beautiful - the sky even looked like velvet.

While Taylor was working one morning, I took to exploring the city by myself. It was raining pretty heavily at the start of my day, so I took a book with me, wore a beanie, grabbed an umbrella, and set off. I found refuge in a little shop called Goods for the Study and browsed. Then, I went to Stumptown Coffee Roasters and got a nice, hot latte while I read my current read at the time, Big Little Lies. We met up a few hours later and shopped, then saw I, Tonya at a dine-in theatre.

(Perfect rainy day activities)

To say we walked a lot is an understatement. We walked miles upon miles, and I was smart and decided to break in my Doc Martens on one of these days (please sense my sarcasm - it was brutal). We took the subway, sure, but my family really loves to walk wherever we go and take the more scenic route when we can. So, at the beginning of one of our mornings to prepare us for a lot of walking, we bought donuts from Dough Donuts and enjoyed them with coffee at Bedford Hill Coffee Bar. Apparently during really busy hours, they prohibit the use of laptops, urging customers to talk to one another - props to you, café. When my mom visited my sister in NY a year or so ago, she tried a latte at this cute café and loved it; she's very picky with her lattes, so I had to try it to see if it lived up to all the hype - it did.

In the picture below, I'm pretty sure I was contemplating how I was going to go about eating the ginormous dulce de leche donut sitting in its box, on my lap.

This spot in DUMBO is supposedly one of the most photographed places for weddings, engagement photos, and just photos in general, so I thought, "What the hey?" Yet, I wish I got the memo to do a fun pose like the girl to the left of the picture. She gets it.

Overall, I really enjoyed the hustle and bustle that is life in New York. I was only there for a short period of time, but immediately after getting off the plane in Queens, I could tell that everything was different in NY. So, thanks, Taylor for the perfect post-fall semester trip.

As Michael Scott once said, "New York, New York. The city so nice, they named it twice. Manhattan is the other name."

Reagan Fleming

These Words

November 22, 2017 by Reagan Fleming in college

These last couple of weeks have been rough, to say the least. But, thankfully today marked the beginning of my Thanksgiving break (praise dance), so I decided to leave campus and read at a coffee shop. I got a chai (I know, who am I?) and read for a few hours. Every reader has a few authors or some books that just get them. Sarah Dessen? Yep. Turtles All the Way Down by John Green? (So far, even though I'm only on chapter 10?) Yes indeedy. Now, this may not be the most beneficial thing for my mental health, but I often lose myself in fiction books when I don't particularly want to focus on what's happening in real life. However, this becomes beneficial when a book causes me to think about my own life in a different or new way. For instance, when I first started reading TATWD the other night, I read a passage that made me immediately start crying. I don't cry very often, so for a book to make me cry was really something. Writers can make their readers feel things - really feel things. It takes a good writer to produce something more than just words on a line that become intermingled with all the other thoughts fumbling around in the reader's brain. Good writing consists of words that change the reader's point of view and/or make them feel understood.

So, as the first few hours of Thanksgiving break began - one that will inevitably be filled with homework - I sipped my chai and read these words: "Your now is not your forever."

Reagan Fleming