I’m enjoying my vacation so far, but one of the things I’ve noticed is that without work to focus on, I’ve kind of lost my focus altogether.  My friends and I call this a “shiny cookie” moment.  Imagine a squirrel who sees something shiny, and now cross it with a little kid who sees a cookie.

Yup.

That is the level of distraction and disjointedness that I’m currently experiencing. Which, considering the fact I’m on vacation, isn’t really a bad thing.

Unless, of course, you’re trying to write a coherent blog post. In which case, all bets are off. Go forth and read at your own risk.

The Movies

The way I watch movies is probably the same way other people meditate.  I use movies to clear my mind of too much reality, and after a very full month of June, I needed a serious palate cleanser of movies to ease my way into vacation. Here are the movies I’ve seen so far this week in order from most to least liked:

• Guardians of the Galaxy – Chris Pratt is adorable and it was fun watching stuff get blown up.
• Jurassic World -Chris Pratt is adorable and it was fun watching stuff get eaten by dinosaurs.
• Paddington -Every once in a while, you need to watch a movie about a gentle, polite stuffed bear.
• The Duff -Cute, predictable high school romantic comedy.
• Mockingjay, Part I -I hate it when books that could have been one movie are broken into two parts. As usual, though, Jennifer Lawrence is awesome.
• Wolfpack – A very interesting movie, but too sad a premise to consider it truly enjoyable.
• Birdman – Huh? So. Many. Questions.
• Boyhood – Look up “overly long and self-indulgent” in the dictionary and you’ll find this movie. I’ll grant you that the premise of filming a movie over the course of 12 years was cool, but I felt like I lost 12 years of my life watching it.

Obergefell v. Hodges:

Official disclaimer: I support same sex marriage, so I was pleased with the Supreme Court ruling this week. That said, when the decision came out, I released my inner political science geek and read the full majority opinion and dissents.

It’s good law, people.

I say that as someone who (in my opinion, anyway) can separate the ruling I want from an appropriate analysis of the law.  So, aside from hearing the decision I hoped for, and then finding it was based on solid legal footing, I also got to geek out over the cases cited which I remember from my days of Constitutional Law.  Looks like that law degree was good for something after all!

Randomness:

• They’re filming more episodes of the X-Files.  My 25 year old self is freaking out.  When the Twin Peaks reboot is official, my 20 year old self is going to join her.
•  RIP My Green Backpack – I bought this backpack the summer before I went to law school *cough* years ago. Since then, it has been my constant companion on just about every vacation I’ve taken. It’s been to London, Texas, Scotland and most importantly it has toted drinks and sandwiches on the beaches of Nantucket every fall for the last fifteen years.  But alas, its straps and zippers have finally broken beyond repair.  Time to visit my friends at LL Bean.

• Was anyone else caught up in the New York escaped convict hunt?
• Donald, Donald, Donald… You really need to stop talking.  And get a haircut.
• I love my writing group: The Pine Cone Writers’ Den.  I’ll devote a full blog post to them in the future, but we had another wonderful, thoughtful, insightful and very fun meeting last week.
• Another new Spiderman reboot?  Really? Why is that necessary?

Well, I think that’s about it for now.  Next time I promise to be a little more focused and controlled in my… Hey… is that a shiny cookie?