Warning+ Where do I go?

I am currently about half way through OLL, having about 33 of 57 cases memorized, which is taking a lot of work and effort to accomplish and is very difficult. So before I move on to my question for this blog I have to give a warning. Cubing gets super difficult as you keep going, and I want you to make sure you are having fun the entire time you are practicing or trying to improve. Feliks has always said never force yourself to practice, and I whole heartedly agree. Cubing is one of those sports where very little mindless boring work is required, and most things that can be done to get better are actually pretty enjoyable, you just have to wait for the right time. I know personally I could probably memorize two OLL algorithms a day if I had the time and felt like it, but sometimes all I can do is wait until I am feeling up to memorizing before I do, because otherwise the sport just wouldn’t be fun anymore, and chances are I would quit cubing before long. I definitely think, especially if you are about to start learning OLL, make a pact with yourself, that you will only cube when you want to, and when it makes sense for your schedule, so it doesn’t stress you out. This way you will be able to go for longer before ever getting bored, and will have more fun over all.

                Now my question for all of the cubers who read this blog, where do I go from here? I’m halfway done with OLL and when I get done with that I will have mastered basic CFOP and won’t have much place else to go. Obviously, there are things I can do, like increasing my look ahead, which right now is shoddy at best, but I know there are more tangible things that are easier to practice, so I want to try one of those. My thoughts were to try and learn the extended cross for a lot of basic cases, because one major problem I have in my solves in the cross to F2L transition, and I feel like knowing how to do X cross could be really beneficial. In addition to this, I think my next step is just to learn more F2L tricks, because right now my F2L is very basic and is cause for a lot of cube rotations and wasted moves, and I think it could be much improved. So just some ideas to consider, if you have a specific thing you think would be good to work on please comment. Thanks!

World Record Strats

                Now warning before I start, this might be extremely obvious to some of you and other would say that this post is really unnecessary just because it’s so blatantly obvious, but I think this idea is legitimate and one everyone needs to consider. Plus I’m writing it so I guess I win.

                World record strategy. What am I saying when I say these words? Is there some perfect algorithm that will solve your cube in 5 seconds every time? Most certainly not. Is there some epic way to guarantee yourself a world record whenever you compete? If there is, I haven’t found it. No the strategy I’m talking about first takes years and years of practice. And by that, I mean the first step of this strategy is being good enough to get a world record anyway. You have to be Feliks or Matts good. The reason for this is because there is no special trick to have the ability to get a world record. Only once you have the ability is this applicable. Think about every time someone asks you about your cube. Are they asking for specific algs or something? No, they are asking for the “secret” for the cube. So yes, step number one is practice until you are able to achieve the world record in your event of choice, and of course the more often you can achieve it in your own practice, the higher a chance you will have elsewhere.

                Next is the actual strategy. This is when you already have the ability to solve on a world record scale, and now you just need to actually break it. And the special secret is… Spamming competitions. Yup. That’s it. The basic idea is that once you are able to solve cubes really fast all the time, you need the opportunity to have a lucky enough solve that you can actually achieve a world record solve. Unfortunately, these kinds of lucky solves are far and few between, so you have to go to enough competitions that at least one of these are available. This takes a while, which is why, in addition to having fun, the best cubers are competing once a month, to have another chance at glory in a solve.

                Finally, all that is left is solve itself, which is by far the hardest. You have to be ready to act upon the solve, ready to take it and score big. Only then will you actually be a world record holder, to live amongst the best in history.

Another Competition and Progress, and a Tiny Little Rant

Drum Roll Please!  I’m happy to announce yesterday I was competing in the Sunday contest and during I had a new personal best average of 5 of 14.34! This is an amazing achievement for me and I’m so happy to see my improvement! And since I have made a really awesome new achievement I wanted to announce two exciting events.

First! I will be attending the Lawrence Spring 2015 competition! This will be my fourth competition and I will be going against some of the best cubers in the country, including, but not limited to, Kevin Hays, Chris Olson, and Kennan Lejuene.  I’m not going to release any official goals until sooner to the date, but being over half learned in OLL would be so cool.

In other news, something I have been wanting since I started on this dream 8 short months ago… I’M GOING TO U.S. NATIONALS 2015!!!! Now it’s not confirmed yet, but my parents seem willing and I am beyond excited to go. Now being as this will be my first competition on an international scale, I wanted to shed a little advice, as I have been to enough competitions now that I think I can honestly talk about this.

No matter what happens, be really friendly to people. I say this to everyone from first time newbies to seasoned speedcubers, and for a very good reason. Cubing is one of the sports where everyone is a nerd. That’s it. Everyone has enough nerdiness inside of the to spend days learning how to solve a rubiks cube, and most of us have even more nerdiness enough to spend months memorizing hundreds of algorithms, and practicing tons of different tricks to get really fast. This identity that we hold is something that should bind us. The fastest cubers shouldn’t be rude to slower ones, even they were slow once. The slower cubers should hate on other slow cubers, just because they aren’t in the same group or aren’t in as many events as others. The point I really need to make here is that cubing is one of the best things in the world. It really is. And I think the best part, is just the sense of family that comes from competing, and knowing the secrets of the greatest puzzle on earth. So please, please be friendly no matter where you are, no matter how newbie the person you’re talking to is, or how much better you feel over everyone else.

Remember, you once had to read a pamphlet to solve it too. Don’t get cocky, and have lots of fun!

Christmas Cubes

Hello everyone, today I’m here with a blog going over the cubes I got for Christmas! Of course, my parents don’t really know cubing, so these cubes are my own purchase, but because I got the money from Christmas, it still counts. And for any wondering, all these items are from thecubicle.us

So to start, I got the Moyu Pyraminx! While my full review on this puzzle, I can say right now it is my main maybe, and I find it a little uncontrollable right now. This is contrary to almost every review I have heard, which all say that this puzzle is perfect. I don’t understand it, but I can get to that in the review.

                Another two items I got were the 1x1 and a green box to hold my main speed cube. Both these items are very plain and normal, however I have to say the 1x1 is surprisingly heavy compared to how it looks and it is quite a surprise when picking it up.

                Third I got the Phil’s Lube pack, which came with Lubicle speedy, weight 5 and Maru lube. I must say of all the items I received this has to be my immediate favorite, even though that opinion may change later. The reason I say this is because while the pack only contains 3 lubes, it covers the spectrum of lubing needs and makes it very easy to find a good feel and speed for your cube.

                Finally, I got the acclaimed Moyu Aosu 4x4. While many reviews immediately say this cube is amazing, I had a few defective pieces I am busy trying to replace, however even though this isn’t a great circumstance I must say the Cubicle is handling it very well. Unfortunately this will delay my review until I can fully use and lube the puzzle.

                Overall, I’m very happy about my Cubes and other accessories and I can’t wait to give you full reviews on all of it!

So Many World Records!

I don’t know if anyone reading this has noticed this as they have surfed the cubing media, but world records are being broken all over the place! I know that in the last two months, Feliks has broken the one handed average and the 5x5 average, Antoine Cantin broke the one handed single, and so many more every which way. This leads me to beg the question, how? Aren’t world records the things that can’t be broken often, and should be really hard to get? Because it is beginning to look like anyone can do it while sitting on their couch eating popcorn. It wouldn’t be the same if it were just the skewb record or something similar, because the event is only a year old and it should have lots of world records. But not every event extremely frequently.

                You might be wondering where I’m going with this, and here it is. I’m scared. The truth is I think that by the time cubing has been fully popularized, and there are lots of people doing it, there will be no records left to break. And I know, it’s not the end of the world, but I know that I want to have something to strive for, and a world record is definitely something worthwhile to try for, and if I can’t go for that because it becomes impossible, where do I go? I can only try and be the world champion, which then requires a nasty plane ride to a random country, and if I fail there, then I have to wait two years to try again. I think that all these records broken then lack of in the future will cause an increase in the number if puzzles we compete for, but I don’t really wanted to see another Rubik’s magic ordeal, where the event is discontinued, and people can’t compete in their main event. So I don’t know what to do and not so calmly ask, any ideas? 

YJ Chilong Review

 Hey guys! I’m back from break and ready to get back into blogging! So let’s start off the New Year with the cube that got me a 15.99 in my last competition, the YJ Chilong!

This cube was fast when I took it out of the box. Not quite as fast as the Aolong was, and I actually found the speed quite nice, but it was a little unexpected. I have done well over 300 solves in with it and it still hasn’t lost its speed. I find that this speed is best represented by the sexy move, which I can perform on this cube faster than any I have ever tried. It’s so satisfying to see this occur and it makes me like the cube a lot. As I have become accustomed to this speed and style of the cube, I have come to really enjoy the feel. It is a little clicky feeling and actually feels a little cheap, it the way the plastic feels when it moves. It’s hard to explain this feeling exactly, but despite the fact that it doesn’t feel like a high quality cube, the feeling is one I enjoy a lot.

Reviews don’t even need corner cutting or popping sections anymore, but we refuse to give them up I guess, so I must say this cube has never popped, and I actually find it hard to take pieces out because on my tight tensions the simple anti-pop mechanism does its job. As for corner cutting, this cube is good, but on my tight tensions it can’t quite cut 45 degrees. Reverse is even less than average, barely cutting a fourth of a cubie, which makes it feel blocky, however this is not noticeable for me because it is very controllable for my style. But be warned, this cube can lock up in the last layer, even for me, which leads to a blocky feel and some bad times occasionally.

 As for controversial issues with this cube, the general consensus is that it is a very reasonable beginner speed cube. I would disagree, saying it is very good for even those averaging 16 seconds, which is what I currently average. This puzzle is easily fast enough for it and if you can control the slightly blocky feel, it works well at 16 second speeds. One issue that Cyoubx had with this puzzle was the corner twisting, which might be an issue but my tensions are so tight it is almost impossible to twist a corner if you are literally just hold the cube and twisting the piece, so it just doesn’t happen. I can see it is definitely possible, the mechanism is rounded enough and there is nothing on the corner piece to prevent it, but on tight tensions it just won’t happen.

Overall my grade for this cube is an 8.5 out of 10. I like how this cube feels and is plenty fast, but if you don’t control your cubes well you will have issues with the blocky feeling. But no matter what I recommend you buy this cube, I picked mine up from the thecubicle.us, and it is well worth the price. Thanks!