That would never happen on House Hunters!

I don't have cable. I have access to it sometimes, but even when I do I have to admit I am not compelled to watch reality shows about folks trying to buy, remodel or redesign houses. I love my job and I spend a lot of time doing my job, so when it comes to "down time" I like to try to get a bit of a break from the business.

That said, I am familiar with the format of  TV shows like "House Hunters" and I had an experience this week and thought to myself---"Why don't you ever see this on a reality Real Estate TV show?"--To be fair I have had that thought before.

Often when I am taking buyers to view properties, the properties for sale will have alarm systems. Most of the time you will, prior to your visit, get the needed instructions for how to disarm and arm these alarm systems. Sometimes even when you have done all of that, something will have changed and that alarm will go off--- LOUDLY and repeatedly and you look like kind of an ass and your poor client(s) are under assault by the sound as they try to check the place out.

This happened to me this week and after multiple phone calls and failed attempts at disarming the alarm system, we went through the property and did our best. I already knew that these particular clients were really great, but I now know that they are also very cool under pressure and would probably do very well in a war zone---good people to know.

Does this ever happen on "House Hunters"? Hell no. Here is another list of things that I am guessing never happen on "House Hunters".

1. Realtor attacked by dogs/cats/rabid children

2. Realtor has gun pointed at her as she is asked to leave.

3. Realtor walks in on a naked guy.

4. Realtor narrowly avoids being stung by hornets INSIDE the house.

5. Realtor stumbles upon grow room.

The only thing on this list that has NOT happened to me is that I have not yet encountered any rabid children, but the day is not over!

Again, I love being a Realtor in Austin and I am rarely bored.  I do wonder if there would be a market for a reality show that portrays what I know to be the true nature of working in this business---if so, sign me up!

PS: It is worth noting that in the 15 minutes we were at the property with the alarm screaming-- the cops did not show up.

Fun Fun Fun Fest 2010: The year Brandi is reminded of her age and her mortality

Fun Fun Fun Fest 2010 was the fifth year of a music festival that we are so lucky to have in Austin. It has a markedly more DIY (in the best way possible) and less corporate feel than the better known ACL music festival and the programming is more punk rock centric (hip hop, indie, metal and electronic music are also well represented). This year along with great acts like The Gories, Strike Anywhere, The Hold Steady, OFF!, Peelander Z, "Weird Al" Yankovic, The Bronx, Bad Religion, Deerhunter, The Casualties and The Dwarves---the Descendents were booked as a last minute replacement for Devo (who are also so GREAT) because they had to cancel due to a band member's injury.

The Descendents are a band that I loved as a young Brandi and still love as an older Brandi. My love affair with punk rock started around my 14th birthday and has waxed and waned over the years, but it is a genre of music I hope I will always have in the mix. It is rare that a band's music endures for me over really long periods of time. Not to imply that I am fickle, it's just that as we change and stuff happens/is happening in our lives certain music may speak to us more at one time than another. The Descendents wrote songs about food and girls and coffee mugs and not wanting to grow up and turn into boring jerks. They wrote songs about being yourself and questioning authority.

I may know myself better now than I did when I was 14, but I still sometimes have a hard time being myself and I am self employed primarily because I don't like being told what to do. I also really like food.

So, here's where I get to the part about being reminded of my age and my mortality. Because this was possibly going to be my only chance to see the Descendents play live I decided I needed to be near the front of the stage for the show. This is something younger Brandi would have done and therefore older Brandi--having been very in touch with younger Brandi over the past 48 hours---did and the result was the opposite of cool. The minute the Descendents started playing the crowd crush was dramatic to say the least, and I quickly found my feet literally off the ground (and I am really tall) as my body became not my own as it was absorbed into a mass of movement. The feeling was one of total lack of control and since I was pressed between what felt like 1000 lbs of weight I could not get the space or leverage to throw an elbow as I so jubilantly recall doing in my younger years. I realize now that when I was going to shows as a teenager I was often one of maybe 50-100 people in the crowd and that's totally easy to maneuver ---Sunday night was not easy to maneuver and along with not really being able to focus on the show, I was about to lose it if I did not get out of there. It is also worth mentioning it smelled really bad---really, really bad, which was weird because there was so much dust in my nose and it was not very hot outside.  I was able to grab the boyfriend just long enough to yell in his ear that I was getting out of there and that I wished him luck and good fortune.  Amazingly, once my mind was made up I successfully escaped the crush of the crowd pretty quickly and found a very civilized spot with a great view and proceeded to have my mind blown by one of the most fun shows I have seen in a long time. The boyfriend also escaped unscathed.

The crowd that would later crush me

Descendents at FFF

The whole FFF weekend was really great and even though I was reminded of my age and my mortality---that's ok. Sometimes I need reminding.

Crazy Ass MLS photo, whaaaatt?

This is a photo of a bedroom in a property for sale in the MLS. For real. Does the giraffe convey?