Whatcha Drinkin’, Whatcha Watchin’: Bachelor Life, Week 2

As you will recall, JPinIC is currently returning to the bachelor lifestyle for the next several weeks. Due to home renovations Mrs. PinIC and the two junior PinICs are at the in-laws and JP is being left to fend for himself in a home without a kitchen.

In the the Iowa Hawkeye fan world, the fans are represented by two separate yet equally important groups: the fans who follow the team and the writers who cover them. JP is (ostensibly) both. These are his stories. Duh duh.

---

This week is a bit different than last one. Rather than working late enough to garner some employer-provided food and then finding may way home to settle in for 2-3 too many episodes of a show and a beverage, I’m exploring another aspect of bachelor life. Well, technically not bachelor life, I suppose, but certainly pre-kids life.

For those of you who don’t have kids, this is going to sound like a “me” problem, the kind of thing you hear about others running into but sweat it’ll never be you. It will.

What am I talking about? Hanging out with other adult humans.

I know, I know, it sounds nuts, but I’m at that stage of parenthood where there is precious little time for anything and what time there is usually comes when you’re just ready to relax and do nothing. I typically get home from work, spend a few hours with the wife and kids before bed and then pass out exhausted while putting the toddler to bed. Rinse and repeat each day.

So with my new-found “freedom” from responsibility with the kids, I’m trying to cram in some time catching up with friends I don’t typically make enough time for.

Sunday - Day 8

Dearest diary,

I’ve made some poor choices. See, I decided to stay at the in-laws for dinner. That wasn’t a bad choice. I mean, the father in-law smokes chicken with the best of them and it was delicious. The couple extra hours with the family was also a solid decision.

But all that set my timeline back a bit and rather than adjust, I decided to move forward as usual. And THAT was a bad decision.

7:30 pm: Realize 20 minutes into the drive that you’ve forgotten your toiletry bag with all the morning essentials to not look and smell like last night’s meal. Damn it. Will need to stop off for provisions somewhere.

8:30 pm: Arrive at Target for provisions. Grab a toothbrush, tooth paste, deodorant, some hair care products (being a pretty boy, as the in-laws no doubt consider me, doesn’t happen naturally) and beer. Time to get out of here.

8:45 pm: Arrive home. You forgot food for tomorrow you idiot.

9:30 pm: After unpacking, watering the plants and all the other typical family man activities upon returning home, I plant myself firmly in front of the TV and proceed to attempt to start watching Game of Thrones and write Overreaction Monday. The Wi-Fi isn’t working.

Ugh.

9:50 pm: And we’re back. GoT is rolling and I have written zero words.

10:30 pm: I’m really starting to get into this, but I’m going to be dead if I don’t start writing soon.

11:15 pm: I don’t know what season or episode I’m on. The HBO channel on Amazon Fire literally leaves like 3 seconds between the end of an episode and the start of the next one so I can’t tell which one I’m on and stopping it from going forward is impossible.

I still have 0 words written for OM. At least I know what I want to write about.

11:45 pm: YOOOOOO!

***SPOILER ALERT!! DO NOT READ THE NEXT LINE IF YOU HAVE NOT WATCHED GOT***

Holy sh!t guys! Who woulda thought REDACTED (no, not that redacted you idiots, I’m actually redacting the name because I know one of you is going to ignore the spoiler warning and still somehow be mad at me for using one) would lose his head?!? And so soon!

12:30 am: OM is rolling, but I should have bought more beer.

1:30 am: I finished writing at least a half hour ago, but I can’t. Stop. Watching. GoT.

2:27 am: Saved by the crappy Wi-Fi! GoT is frozen mid-episode and I’m going to bed. Tomorrow should be fun..

Monday - Day 9

Day 7 of bachelor life, day 1 of not staring at my TV until 2am. Dinner with a buddy at Red’s in North Liberty. Never been disappointed.

UPDATE: I was not disappointed with the food. Although they didn’t have Bell’s Two Hearted on tap for the first time in my life. Ended up with a couple Big Grove Arms Races to go with the Fahrenheit 319 burger. So good, but I will surely regret it tomorrow.

SECOND UPDATE: Made it home around 9:30. I fell victim to the GoT addiction again. I did, however, manage to cut myself off at 1 am. I think I need to take a breather here and maybe dive into some of the documentaries you guys have recommended. I feel like I should get more sleep if there’s not 7 full seasons of 1-hour episodes available to me.

Tuesday - Day 10

Mrs. PinIC and the little ones are in town for the night. We hit up Bluebird with the sister-in-law and niece for dinner due to the lack of a kitchen.

I go with a Diet Coke to wash down the eggs, hash browns, toast and sausage. Breakfast food is never bad.

I fall asleep somewhere around 9:30 while putting the toddler to bed. I have no clue when he actually went to sleep, but I assume he gets himself to sleep shortly after he hears me nod off?

Wednesday - Day 11

Getting to bed early has me feeling recharged and refreshed. Good. It’s poker night at a buddy’s.

Five high school buddies, two pizzas, an order of bread twists (because apparently Dominoes doesn’t do sticks?) and several beers. This should be good.

Things go pretty well. Appearing to have roughly tripled my initial buy in, I cash out said buy in. A full Pseudo Sue later, I decide to cash in the first doubling of my buy in. I then proceed to lose everything I have left in a matter of 6 hands. I guess I’ll just shoot the sh!t while these guys finish up.

Or not. It’s been 20 min and this isn’t getting closer to being done. Guess who’s back?!

— 10 minutes later —

Welp, I’m back even on the night. Time to actually be done.

I make it home around 11:30, just enough time to catch 1 episode of GoT and hit the hay.

1:30 am: I HAVE TO STOP.

Side note: I ended up down a rabbit hole watching old Chappelle Show clips after searching for the above gif. I’ve spent most of the early part of this bachelor journey devouring new shows that are anything but comedies, but man I feel like I should go back and watch some of the classic comedies. Good stuff.

Thursday - Day 12

It’s dinner night with some of my fellow dads. We’re hitting Big Grove in Iowa City and things should be very good. I’m not going to let the night get away from me, even if I make it home late.

I, JPinIC, do solemnly swear that I will not watch any Game of Thrones today. I vow to be in bed by 12:30 and get at least 6 hours of sleep tonight.

UPDATE: I was supposed to be home by 10 to join in the triumphant return of the podcast. Instead, I watched on as the DD as my friends explored a new park near Big Grove, trying out each piece of equipment and deciding the kiddie zip lines were quite fantastic. I got home at 10:40. Jerry is asleep.

Time for GoT!

UPDATE 2: I am the worst. Seriously, I need your suggestions on something to watch that is enjoyable but not so addicting. I’m on duty for next week’s game preview, anybody got suggestions for good videos or recaps of old Iowa games? Like every other self-respecting Iowa fan I have the 55-24 game saved on the ol’ DVR, but due to space constraints I unfortunately deleted all my other old games.

---

That’s it for this week. Back to the family life for the weekend. I am indeed searching for recommendations on places to watch old Hawkeye film, particularly condensed games. YouTube is my obvious answer, but if anyone has other sources I’d like your feedback.

Until then, I’ll just continue wasting my life away plowing through a season of GoT every few days.