My Idea For an Episode of Portlandia

Every day I look for the silver linings in life; because no matter how stressful my day has been, there is always something good happening that I could focus my attention on instead. It’s my secret recipe for staying happy in the middle of strife and turmoil. You can’t be a real estate agent in Sacramento and not be on intimate terms with strife and turmoil in today’s real estate market.

The trick is to fill your brain with fun and interesting data, while leaving the essential facts such as the square footage and sales price of my Land Park listing at 1620 Sutterville Road still at the top of my brain. There is only so much room up there in the attic. At my age, it’s come to a point that if something goes in, something else has to come out. But I have left a space for smart entertainment. One such television show that I love to watch as I unwind from my day is Portlandia, and the new season of Portlandia has finally arrived.

It’s one of the few shows on TV that actually makes me laugh out loud. The writing and cast are brilliant. No wonder they attract such top name talent, too. It’s a little over the top, but only by a smidgeon. Not enough to be completely unbelievable. Besides, most funny things are based in truth somewhere along the line.

It carries over into my dreams, apparently. Because this morning I woke up in a bit of a haze from a dream in which I was writing a segment for Portlandia. It involved flat-screen TVs and how to watch DVDs, versus streaming video, versus TV, versus cable channels and recording 2 shows at once. Stuff your 5-year-old can do but you, being over the age of 30, cannot. And, then, the show ends with the two stars, Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen, sitting in a Home Depot on top of paint cans, sharing a bag of popcorn and watching a football game without sound on a big screen TV for sale.

Hey, Carrie, send the residual check to my home in Land Park. In the meanwhile, I won’t give up my day job of being a Sacramento real estate agent.

Photo of Portland, by Elizabeth Weintraub