Two and a Half Years

In the fall of 2006, I was enrolled in a Pre-Cal/Trigonometry class at Bentonville High School. About a month into the class we had our first test. The next day someone had sat in my seat, and someone had sat in this girl's seat, so we just sat down together. We got our tests back. I got something like a 64% on mine, she got something like a 68% on hers. DANG. This test was a killer. Mr. Mayer said everybody bombed it, and we could work with our seat partners to do corrections that he would accept.

So me and this girl started working through the embarrassment and fixed our tests. She was nice, so the next period, I just went straight to the same desk instead of my old one. She did too.

A few weeks of talking. Her iPod was broken, I fixed it. I felt like a nerd. She was on Facebook, I wasn't. She felt like a nerd. Turned out we went to the same church. I never saw her at the youth stuff though, so I asked her to come Wednesday night. She did, (first sign she liked me) and after the service, I asked her out for ice cream. She called her mom, here's about how that went...

Aubrey: "Mom, can I go out for ice cream?"
..................
Aubrey: "No it's not a group"
..................
Aubrey: "It's Cameron"

BOOM. She didn't say "it's this guy from my math class", or "Cameron Magee from church", or "a friend" or any of that junk. She told her mom, "it's Cameron". (second sign she liked me).

We went and got ice cream. I got ice cream there so much Donny knew me. We talked for an hour and I drove her back. We were out of school Thursday and Friday.

Cameron: "What are you doing tomorrow?"
Aubrey: "My mom and I are going to the Craft Fairs"

So I decide I like the craft fairs all the sudden. I go to pick her up and her mom suddenly 'doesn't want to go'. hmmm... Third sign she liked me.

A few weeks of dating, and it was LEGIT. October 28th, 2006, on the way back from a Roller Skating date, we were driving back to her house.

Aubrey: "do you want to come in and meet my parents?"
Cameron: (oh dang oh gosh oh no), "sure!"

*pause*

Aubrey: "Soooo.... Are you my boyfriend?"
Cameron: "I am if you're my girlfriend" (or something smooth like that)

BIIIIG SMILE

I held her hand three months later and we were SET. Two and a Half years later, we are still together, and stronger than ever. I'm not going to lay out a timeline here on the blog, but just take my word for it. It has been two and a half years of great fun, great trust, and great growth. Now, after our first year at College, we are more mature than ever individually, and our relationship is at it's absolute best, every day when I wake up. Aubrey makes the start of each day the greatest day of my life. I love you Aubrey, I can't wait to see the places we'll go!

Wrapping the Semester UP

As we near the end of the semester, I'm feeling a great peace about the inevitable stress ahead.

I keep my life blocked out into iCal events, running off a nice tight scheduled calendar through my mac & phone. My calendar knows that every Tuesday at 11am, I go to News Reporting class. After class today, I opened my calendar and told it to delete this event. Today was our last class of the semester.

The window that popped up was a nice reminder of the closure I needed. A simple mouse click on "Delete All Future Events" let out an involuntary sigh from myself. What a relief.

After finishing classes for today, I only have Wed, Thurs & Fri left. Next week is finals, four days, four tests. As a final break before the storm, I am going to see my favorite band play on Sunday.

When I was seven I got my first CD Walkman, and only had one CD. It was Jars of Clay's "Much Afraid". Luckily, CDs don't wear out like Cassettes, because I wore that thing OUT. It is going to be a really special thing for me to get to see them live this weekend.

Phillip was running audio for them at a show last year and let me sneak in to sit behind the board with him. Phillip is the man, in case you forgot.

I can't find anybody to go with me, but it'll be fine. I can't wait to hear my favorite drummer play for my favorite band. Jake Goss replaced Jars of Clay's most recent drummer two days ago. Jake is all over the road with the group now, including his stop in Conway in five days. I CAN NOT wait. My level of pumped-ness is almost dangerous. Sunday will be a treat, preceeding a week of tests, followed by FREEDOM. After my last test Thursday morning, I am FREE TO RUN for the Summer. My anticipation and yearning for the end is drawing up to a high level of excitement. I will be in Bentonville Thursday night.

Aubrey is stuck in Arkadelphia for 48 more hours. The OBU band plays at the graduation ceremonies held Saturday morning, after which she will be free to go. I can't wait for the 114 days of Summer to begin. I've got a full plate of fun waiting in iCal for me, and a lot of accompanied blogging to follow. As always, thank you, thank you for reading!

cmSticks

If you remember back, I've been building these multi-rods for quite a while now. I have built tons of sticks, slightly improving each pair. Not a single stick (rod) has broken. Even the little baby "terrible three's" have held up to everything I've pushed them to.

After so many pairs built, I've finally built a final pair that is perfect. This pair of "terrible three's" is LEGIT.

Lightweight for quick smooth playing
Loose for a wooden sound
Guaranteed not to snap
Two-Tipped for a crackle and a pop
3-Rod configuration for quieter cymbals
Strong Gaff Tape construction

I like to use mine in churches where the drums need to be an element of worship and not a booming centerpiece.

Starting to sound like a salesman. Maybe I should be a salesman. Maybe I should sell these. They're my stick of choice about 85% of the time, why not?

OK, it's official. These are for sale.

I can make a pair for fairly inexpensively. Let's call it $7 a pair. That's sounds pretty good I guess. There's not more than five bucks in cost for each pair, so that's probably good. Great. I'm in business now. Buy a pair of sticks, you'll love them.

Better come up with a slogan.
"Play for Him, not them"

I'm pretty sure nobody makes these. I hope not. I hereby declare cmSticks a custom product created designed and manufactured by Cameron Magee out of his dorm room operation.

After finding a solution that works for me, I have just made my first "product" pair. I'm boxing them up right now to send to a drummer friend of mine to try out. If he likes them, I'll get more serious about them.

uFeature: Gretsch Catalina Club Jazz

I wanted to post something so you could hear what the kit sounds like. Phillip and I spent over three hours tuning four drums, and I had to do better than just write about it.

Here's about 45secs worth of video for you to hear the kit. The camera's little microphone doesn't do a fantastic job of representing the sound of the drums, I wish it did. Also, please understand this video is not designed to bring attention to myself. I am not a drummer, I only want to broadcast the kit and the cymbals. This is a Grestch Catalina Club Jazz, with Zildjian A Custom cymbals. Again, I am not a drummer, only a worshipper. I hope you like the new kit, I love it.

They are staying at home while I wrap up these last two weeks of school. I will most likely have to do some tuning tweaking when I return. I'm sure as those heads seat and break in, they will likely de-tune themselves a bit. But again, I have no idea what I'm talking about, so we'll just run with that. Thanks for reading & watching!

My drumkit has Arrived

After much, MUCH anticipation and longing and waiting and pining, the LORD has provided me with a set of drums to worship his name with.

I've been acting like I'm a drummer for a few years now, always playing on other drummer's kits. Until this week, all I owned was a stick bag full of junk to hit other guy's drums with. In that bag, I carried my digital camera and a measuring tape. Every time I'd play a kit, I would:

1. take a bunch of pictures of their drums to research later
2. measure all the drums to find out what sizes I liked

because...

1. I have no idea what I'm doing
2. I have no interest in dropping thousands without a clue

So, when the LORD finally provided opportunities and funds to buy pieces of gear, I jumped. Through eBay, the newspaper, and online stores, I have built together the pieces of my personal drumkit over the last 2 months.

I have been at college, and had all the stuff shipped home. After arriving home Friday night, I began checking everything out. I had my friend Phillip Johnson (that's my drumtech if anybody asks) come over Saturday for us to build the kit. Turns out, drums come shipped like this:

Fantastic. I was more than thankful that I ordered mine instead of buying a set from a local store. This allowed me and Phillip to build everything from the ground (carpet) up, doing everything correctly step by step.

I found some drum tuning techniques online, and used this one to do the kick (bass) drum:

I'll be doing a few more posts, but for now, the drums are set up, they are tuned, and they are ready to play. I've gotten in a little playing time this weekend, trying to keep the volume to a courteous level for the home that does not belong to me.

My goals for this kit have been met.

1. a beautiful look that will stick through the future
2. quality hardware that will not wear out through time.
3. a tight setup for a 3x5ft space, as well as easy transportation.
4. a quiet set.

Number four is the most important to me personally. Drums can be mic'd for larger rooms. Drums can be hit harder for outdoor worship. Drums can always be louder. It takes careful selecting and disciplined playing to maintain a quiet set. This set allows me to practice at home, play in small rooms, and be mic'd for anything requiring a larger volume.

I am more than pleased with the drums, and cannot wait to be back in Bentonville to really get to warm them in.