StormyRen.com

And since you really can’t wait any more, here are the most popular songs, and the number of times they were listed:
Animal Collective – My Girls (17)
Bat for Lashes – Daniel (12)
*Grizzly Bear – Two Weeks (11)
*Phoenix – Lisztomania (11)
Phoenix – 1901 (11)
Bon Iver – Blood Bank (8)

*TRULY EXCELLENT SONGS!

after which point, there are multiple songs for 7 occurrences on. Oh, what’s that? You want to see what those are, too? Ok, I’ll post the 7x, 6x, and 5x mentioned.

7
Atlas Sound feat. Noah Lennox – Walkabout
Camera Obscura – French Navy
Dirty Projectors – Stillness is the Move
Here We Go Magic – Fangela
Neko Case – People Got A Lotta Nerve

6
The Big Pink – Dominos
Girls – Hellhole Ratrace
Girls – Lust for Life
Japandroids – Young Hearts Spark Fire
Jay-Z feat. Alicia Keys – Empire State of Mind
Miike Snow – Animal
Volcano Choir – Island, IS

5
The Avett Brothers – I And Love And You
Dirty Projectors and David Byrne – Knotty Pine
Heartless Bastards – The Mountain
Metric – Help, I’m Alive
Neko Case – This Tornado Loves You
Neon Indian – Deadbeat Summer
Passion Pit – Moth’s Wings
Real Estate – Beach Comber

I’ll get back to you on my personal favs in a week or two. I’ve got to listen to it all first, of course.

I don’t know if you know this, but I am a musicphile. fa realz. I’ll listen to just about anything once and I sincerely believe that if it’s good, one can appreciate it even if they can’t love it. I think everyone has a genre that they live in, that feels like home. I know I have a couple, depending on the time of year and the current state of affairs in my life, the pace I’m moving at, etc.

Needless to say, I spend probably 75-90% of my day listening to music. In fact it can be borderline agonizing to be denied access to my ‘jamz’. (Read: Occasionaly at work.)

Unless I’m outside doing some outdoorsy-type thing. That might have to be the one exception. When I’m outside in a National Park, doing my photography, hiking and enjoying the landscape, music is just outside of that world. I might have an unfortunate ohrwurm at the moment, but I’ll try to ignore it.

Anyways, I am occasionally afraid for the state of my hearing (long-term) ’cause when it hits me, I have to turn it up and dance. Probably similar to most young punks my age. Luckily when I did a hearing test last year as part of a pre-employment physical the technician said I had really good hearing. I guess music has only served to tune my ears? I don’t know.

Back to the present. I explain the draw that music has for me so that you can better understand the ridiculous project I have recently undertaken. What I am working on is not scientific (horror of horrors!) but it is incredibly nonsensical out of context.

In my very limited amount of free time I have sifted through a very random, shotgun sample of music blogs, both mainstream and indie, well-known and barely functioning, industry-based and fan-based, genre-based and self-elected-sommelier-de-musique types, to find their own lists of the top/best songs of 2009. All of which, of course, use completely different criteria in generating their lists. Although the scientific part of me is shaking its head at the this completely non-statistical approach, the other, very optimistic side of me exclaims, “Ah, yes – but cream rises to the top!” And in a way, it has. To satisfy the scientific, musicphile, and attention-to-detail-hard-worker parts of myself I have listed below the sampling of sites I retrieved lists from (in order to repeat or improve the analysis) with the songs and artists that have truly risen to the top (because I like to share, too).

2009 RS songs
wtmd Top 89 Songs of 2009
heartachewithhardwork Top 40 songs of 2009
gorilla vs. bear’s songs of 2009
DAVID’S TOP 40 of 2009 (same site as gvb)
SPIN The 20 Best Songs of 2009
Said the Gramophone Best Songs of 2009
musicforants.com 50 Songs of 2009
startlingmoniker Top 12 Best Happy Neat-O List of 2009
THe musIc FILe Editors’ Picks Top Ten Covers Of 2009
THe musIc FILe Editors’ Picks Best Songs Of 2009
b3science top 40 tracks of 2009
Filles Sourires Best of the Year List
betterPropaganda Favorite Tracks of 2009
kickinthepeanuts (including the whole gang)
faronheit.blogspot.com top 50 (this one has separate posts to draw out the anticipation)
Mon Khmer’s Top 10 Songs of 2009
North Highlands’ Best Releases of 2009
Pterodactyl’s Top 10 2009 (in no particular order)
Goes Cube Best of ‘09
A Sunny Day In Glasgow Top 10 Songs of 2009
Copycat’s Top 20 2009
Phil Retrospector’s TOP 20 2009
Simon Iddol’s TOP 20 2009 (same site)
Pitchfork’s Top 15 Songs Of 2009 … So Far
Pitchfork Top 100 Tracks of 2009 – yeah, I know. I TOLD you it was unscientific!
Stereogum’s 50 Most Downloaded mp3s of 2009
Esquire’s 50 Songs Every Man Should Be Listening To
Spinner best songs of 2009
culture bully top songs of 2009 [multiple lists]
NPR All Songs Considered Poll Results: The Best Music of 2009 (So Far)
Best Songs of 2009 rollogrady.com
DiS Editor’s Top 40 Songs of 2009 (Drowned in Sound)

Wow. Ok. That list is wicked weird. I don’t usually go to very many of those sites, this was a big experiment in randomness! For cereal, I’m a little worried I won’t get ‘cream’y songs. Fingers are crossed.

when I say I know how crazy I look in the first picture.

The MES Contendahs

3rd-2nd-1st Places

So yeah, I won third place on Friday. Sweet deal, huh?

Ok, so a couple of weeks ago the five-year plan was 3 years of MES, 3 years Peace Corps = my future in nonprofit international development is set.

Problem is, I’m not sure if that’s where I’m headed. I mean, yes, the 3 years here at MES is pretty solid, but…I don’t know. I keep thinking about seminary. I keep thinking about how everyone is so inspiring and meeting their goals and making their dreams come true. Sarah G., Sarah D., Katelin, Morgan. and they’re not afraid to take the next step. Step out on faith, Danielle said. and I do.

However, I’m feeling out the path. I feel like Indiana Jones when he scatters dirt on an invisible stone bridge across a chasm. Although I don’t feel like I’m about to plunge off the side, I’m very cautious in being certain that this is the path I keep praying about. The one that is laid out for me. I know that I’ll know when the next door is opened because I’ve walked through it each time I feel it opening. Even if it seems backwards. I want to be like Samuel and pray constantly, “Here I am.” I am so thankful that I have walked through it each time, and I apologize if I am too hasty in looking for the next one, but Lord – people are dying! Not that he doesn’t know – why else would He ask us to feed His lambs? So yes, there is a sense of urgency, and maybe a little wild searching. I won’t stop searching. Today I’m going to an open house for prospective graduate students, an open house that only has those institutions with the degree programs I’m interested in. (www.apsia.org)

Which brings me to my next five-year plan. Keep working at MES and get a graduate degree. Once I am Lauren, M.A. (or whatever), I will apply for the Fulbright and GO! Sounds good, right? Haha, we’ll see what the next revision is in like, 2 weeks, probably.

One thing I wish I could do is just drop everything and run to NYC and volunteer for charity:water . Or maybe head south for blood:water mission. And that’s another thing. Charity:water’s website is so visually striking that I begin to think about my talents – don’t waste them, grow them, right? – specifically that of photography. So tonight I’m also looking into a Professional Photography Certificate Program that would give me a lot of professional training and improve my photography skillz. I won’t throw away photography like I kinda did my writing. (A seed-like talent I have allowed to fall into a rocky patch; and one which takes me down paths of rebuke when I try to grow it.)

So yeah, that’s the latest.

Wow, so although I’m very excited for Halloween – I have two costumes in mind to wear at two different times (one work-appropriate, one good for going out in B-more) – I’m sure you’ll see pictures in Nov – I am soooo ready for Christmas! (Haha, yeah – just skip Thanksgiving completely.) Which makes me very happy. Although I’m perennially and perpetually excited about the fact that our savior was born and is, it has been quite a few years since I was excited for the holiday season, excepting the year I explored culture differences and similarities during said season in Europe – which was actually pretty darn cool and always brings a smile of recollection to my face. Oh my gosh, and I just remembered the existence of EGG NOG! Yes! Love it.

Partially I think my enthusiasm results from this week’s unending rain, surprisingly enough. It’s like, in for a penny, in for a pound. I’m ready for snow! And the winter wonderland! It’s already necessary to warm up the car and put the heater on full ‘red’ and number 2, so it’s not too far from the depths of winter for me. I haven’t yet pulled out the winter coat and I’m still resisting scarves, but I’m emotionally ready to handle winter’s cold. I think. Typically I struggle to stay warm all day and spent most of the night keeping an inch away from shivering. But I now have a space heater! And I’m so ready for carols, and decorations steeped in family history and tradition. (My abs fav parts of the season.) I’m even looking into gifts.

Despite the desperate temporal distance between myself and a home of my own, I feel quite excited to celebrate at the ol’ family home all season long. Maybe this is accounted for through the fact that my brother, sister and niece live 3 mi away, for the first time ever! I’m pretty happy.

The other reason why I think I’m so happy is that for the first season in many years I am not 1) stressing about SATs or getting into college, 2) stressing about being in college and multiple exams, or 3) sinking deeper in debt and struggling to get a job. I finally have a job and despite a multitude of worries about where my life is heading (in terms of answering my call, staying in touch with the many people that matter so much to me, and deciding/investigating where my money is going to) I feel secure and peaceful, able to enjoy each day and sustained to continue seeking how to work out those things. And strangely (or not) I feel good.

This is not to say that I have days (pretty much every other) where I am stressed beyond belief at the thought of the unknown – where is my career going? when will I travel extensively again (Europe and the fav states rank high here)? what grad school should I go to? when will I go to grad school? will I have enough money to go to grad school? will it ever be financially feasible to leave my mom’s house? would she be financially ok if I did? when will all my material possessions be organized so that I feel free to get rid of them/finish my many projects? when can I get to see my college friends J.Rose, Vanessa, Morgan, Elisabeth, Sarah etc again? where is my money going? can I go to France next year? should I get a technical photography certificate at CDIA? how can I help my ankle heal so that I won’t injure it again? when can I resume cardio workouts and lose the ridiculous lbs I’ve gained since senior year in college? when will I fit in my clothes again? when do I have time to study film noir for fun? when do I have time to make my brother, Ebeth, Emily, and my coworkers their promised mixes? and more.

Haha, I’ll probably add to this post when I think of all my other constant questions. But those are the ’simple’ ones on my mind at the moment.

And yes, despite these, there is a creeping, swelling sensation of excitement for the holiday season. YAY!