It is what it is… – Jen Brien

by Jen Brien, commentary

“IT IS WHAT IT IS” – CHILLIN’ EDITION

GANG, this week I decided to dial it back and knock off my critical disposition for one column. The other day I did something I had not done in forever… I PLAYED ATARI!  I got to thinking how much fun life can be if we just stopped being so pissed off at everything for one minute. Sure, there’s so much to be really, really angry about, and every day there seems to be something new that could send you over the edge, but I decided this week to chill. To just have a space where we can feel ok. I hope that’s ok with you all, and if you don’t like what I’m doing this week, stop reading now. No politics, no WNBA drama, no blowing off steam… just embracing a laid-back vibe that we all need every now and then. So, drink your coffee, or juice, or smoothie… smoke your cigarette, or whatever, and just relax… it’s ok not to be mad all the time…really, it’s ok.

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TOP 10 MOVIES 1985:

10.) E.T (re-release)

9.)  BREWSTER’S MILLIONS

8.)  PALE RIDER

7.)  EUROPEAN VACATION

6.)  A VIEW TO A KILL

5.)  FLETCH (one of my ALL-TIME FAVS)

4.) THE GOONIES

3.) COCOON

2.) BACK TO THE FUTURE 

1.) RAMBO FIRST BLOOD, PART TWO

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GROWING UP WITHOUT TECHNOLOGY

When I was a kid, we had it really good. Not because of the stuff we had in the house or because our parents were perfect, but rather because there were literally 7 TV stations and ZERO technology. We had it good back then because those were the days of playing outside until the streetlights came on, playing 4 squares with the kids in the neighborhood and riding your HUFFY or SCHWINN all over the radius you were allowed.

We watched cartoons on a Saturday morning, followed by wrestling, then CREATURE DOUBLE FEATURE. If your mom kicked you out at 9am like mine did routinely so she could clean, she told us her “spies would be watching us”!!!!  She never told us who “the spies” were, but we were kept in check with that fear tactic. I remember searching abandoned homes, jumping off a roof pretending to fly (how no one ever broke a leg is beyond me… I was the terrified one, btw… I never ran and jumped off like my brother did… I dangled by my fingertips off the edge and let myself down slowly. (I was once a total wus) and buying penny candy with the leftover quarter my dad let us keep when he gave us $1 to go down the street to fetch him a pack of Marlboro REDS. A pack of smokes back then was 75 cents!

We ran through sprinklers, played football, and would call 92 PRO FM and request songs. The DJ actually picked up the phone back in those days and nothing was automated. Man, we sure had it good. Back in the day before technology, dad would toss us in his wood paneled station wagon and haul us out to ROCKY POINT. He would eat chowder, drink beer and listen to music while we all wandered the park unaccompanied and hit all the rides. I’d always be puking on the ride home out the back window. Somehow the “MUSIC EXPRESS” always got me really good. On Sunday mornings me and dad would go to church and then he would stop for donuts and his newspaper. He always let me get an “ARCHIE’S DIGEST” comic book. I loved having that time… just me and dad.

As I got older dad sent my sister and me to summer camp in Vermont in the mountains. That was such a peaceful experience for a crazy spirit like me. Nature classes, crafts, swimming, waterskiing, taffy making… life without technology was so wonderful. I say all this to say my friends, try unplugging for a week and plug back INTO LIFE. I think you’ll find if you reminisce about the simplicity of growing up, you can search your mind and find good things there that will make you smile. I loved those days and as I forge ahead into my older years now, they are etched across my heart and I will always cherish them. I’m so GRATEFUL we had a time without all the digital insanity we experience now. Go ahead, try it. I promise you’ll have the week of your life, because you’ll actually be LIVING AGAIN.

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WHAT WAS THE COST OF LIVING IN 1972?

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YOU SHOULD CHASE AN ICE CREAM TRUCK

Here we are just about to have our first heatwave of the summer, although SUMMER  hasn’t officially started yet!  You’ll start hearing folks ask, “is it hot enough for ya”?  The morning TV NEWS SHOWS will begin their “SUMMER CONCERT SERIES” in the plaza in NYC. Schools are shutting down and wretched summer fill-in shows will grace the airwaves until the fall TV season/sweeps start up again. We will head out to BBQ’s, exercise, get to the beach, AND also start hearing the docile tones of ICE CREAM TRUCKS rolling through neighborhoods all over AMERICA!! They drive 3 miles an hour through our communities ringing bells to get us to all run out of our homes or apartments to drop a few shekels and buy a refreshing treat.

One of the things I’m grateful for is still being relatively healthy. What I mean by this is, I can see and hear ok, my legs and arms still work, and my back is cooperating thus far. The other day I was in the kitchen doing my dishes and I heard that bell! HERE COMES THE ICE CREAM MAN I exclaimed out loud!!!!!! I raced to my wallet and grabbed 5 bucks and threw open my door and instinctively ran… LITERALLY RAN after the truck yelling, “HEY ICE CREAM MAN!!! ICE CREAM MAN!!” Guys, I’m 55. I’m just about positive someone in my neighborhood saw this and wanted to call the paddy wagon… but as a runner now I wasn’t dying or huffing and puffing… I’m just old and probably looked stupid…. BUT WHO CARES!!! I was laughing and smiling the whole way and then I SAW THE BRAKE LIGHTS!  The young guy put his breaks on for me! Let me tell you, chasing that truck brought me back.  I got my frozen lemonade and told the kid “I’ll come out every time I hear your bell, now”! Not because the lemonade was spectacular, but rather. because I love supporting small businesses and also because it made me feel that joy I felt long ago as a fat little kid with 3 front teeth chasing down the GOOD HUMOR MAN! People always say, “OH GROW UP” and I say WHY? WHY not have a fun childlike spirit? Why do we have to become crotchety old angry people angry at everything, everyone, and angry about our lives?

My life is definitely not perfect and has been hard lately, but what I’ve come to embrace is new experiences that resemble yesterday. So, short story long…. Come out of your house and chase down the ICE CREAM MAN!  Inject some effortless fun (mostly) back into your existence. You can be mature and still tap into the wholesomeness of simpler times. Who cares if your neighbors think you’re insane. Let them peek out the window watching your spirit soar!  This world is so crazy and complex… but we don’t have to be angry and complex… ALL THE TIME. We just don’t have to be that ALL THE TIME. Let me know in the comment section below what you all did for fun as kids that brought YOU JOY!! OR, find me on FB and tell me there! 

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MOTOWN SONGS FOR THAT KILLER BBQ:

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That’s all I got this week gang. IT IS WHAT IT IS. 

STAY COOL and check on your elderly neighbors! 

(P.S Don’t leave your pets in your car!!!!)

Till next week,

Jen

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Jen Brien has over 20 years of radio broadcast experience having hosted shows on WPRO and WHJJ with Ron as well as her own shows on WRKO and WBZ in Boston, WXTK on Cape Cod and WHAM in Rochester, New York. Jen was born and raised in Woonsocket and served six years in the Army MP Canine Unit.

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