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!

My Method for Pyraminx/ Learning?

So if you read my last post, you will know I briefly talked about my Pyraminx solving method, and how it wasn’t the best method for speed solving, but worked alright. So In this blog, I wanted to explain my method, and why I think you should learn it, and then where I think you can go from there. So, for starters, my method is so simple. One of the easiest methods that can ever be taught. It’s based on Paradox Cubing’s tutorial, and is great for any beginner Pyraminx solver. Basically, it is, at its most basic state, just a bunch of sledge hammers over and over again until the puzzle is solved. There is a little more to it, but it is very simple.

                To start, you simply line up the three “corner” type pieces on the correct side, so everything can be oriented correctly. Next, you use the sledge hammer move to insert the 3 edge pieces, to complete the first layer. From there, the top layer is oriented in one of 6 possible cases, so 5 algorithms (plus the solved state) complete the puzzle, minus the tips, which of course are easy to fix.

                There are a couple of reasons I wanted to share his method with everyone. For one, it’s just super easy. If you can solve a Rubik’s Cube, even just with the most beginner method, this method is perfectly attainable. Another reason I wanted to share it, is because using this simple method, I averaged 9 seconds at my last competition, which is decently fast. The main reason for this is because even using such a simple method, using some look ahead tactics and first layer tricks I learned from 3x3, it was not too much work to make a beginner method into a decently effective solving strategy. This is why I have “Learning?” in the title, because I am seeing the effects that my practice in other events. Now I don’t mean to brag, I am still not anywhere near competition winning times, but It does show what happens when you practice, and how effective things in one scenario can be in another.

                So what do I suggest you do? First, I would make sure you practice. I try to do so as much as possible, and even though it seems like sometimes I don’t learn anything, I am slowly absorbing information, which is very useful.  Then, after you have a bit of knowledge under your belt, for fun, pick up a small cuboid, or maybe an interesting shape mod, or maybe just another competition legal puzzle, and see what fun you can have, solving it in weird ways, or finding cool little tricks to make a layer or solve parity. I find it so satisfying to watch my skills have an application like this, and I think you might as well, so just give it a try, and most of all, just try to make cubing a little more enjoyable, because its one of the coolest things I think you can do.

Paradox Cubing's video

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bP8uNejf3y8

Winter Break Update

Well I don’t know about the rest of my readers, but I am pretty excited for the holiday time! I finally get a break from school and some time to practice cubing. And since Christmas is right around the corner as well, I wanted to talk about some events I might want to get into. Then, after Christmas, I’m going to do a full review on the puzzles I get, and hopefully learn a few methods to different puzzles.

                So to start, I’m wondering if I should get into 4x4. It’s kind of the next step in competing; I have already gotten decent in 3x3, 2x2, and Pyraminx, but I don’t want to just stay in those. I want to keep adding puzzles to my repertoire, and 4x4 really seems to be calling my name. The reason is that both the aolong and the V2 were amazing, and the Aosu is reviewed as the best 4x4 of all time, which makes me think I will have a good time learning the method. I’m thinking I will learn Yao, because even though it is a little bit more complicated, it seems to be a very good method and all the main speedcubers use it.

                Besides that, I think the best thing I can over break and continuing into the New Year is continuing on learning OLL’s, because I can’t wait to get sub 10 and be really competitive. Now I fully understand full OLL isn’t the only thing that makes someone fast, but it is still very necessary in speedcubing, and I think it’s a very reasonable thing I should try for. After that, I’m not sure what I want to focus on. I could learn some algs for COLL, as that might help with my times for 3x3, but I think my next best practice option would be working on a new Pyraminx method. The current method I know is good, but won’t ever win me a competition, so I will have to get much better in order to have a fighting chance. So that’s my update for now, thanks!

Progress Plus a Thank You

Hi everyone! I had a little time over the weekend and I started learning a few of the OLL’s. Now, this in itself is not overly special, because so many people have learned much more than that, but it’s really cool for me because it’s the next step on my cubing journey and I can’t wait to continue going and see how far I get to go. In addition to that, I also achieved my new personal best time of 11.32 seconds on 3x3. Again, mildly impressive to those who have been doing this for a while, but I am amazed at my own improvement and so happy to see my progress.

Now on to the purpose of this blog, I wanted to give a big thank you to Anthony Brooks. For any of you that have read my blog for a while, you know that over the summer I really got in to speedcubing and went on a trip where I met Anthony at the Liberty Science center. I had been excited to go for months and thought I was just going to have a fun time. But meeting Anthony was so much more than I had ever anticipated. Watching someone solve a cube in 8 seconds flat in front of your face is just a little to amazing not to have a small freak out. It was one of the coolest things I have ever experienced. But not only was he really good, Anthony was also a really nice guy to learn from and gave me quite a few useful tidbits on cubing. Then, some of you will know the story, I got really inspired to speedcube, learned 2 look OLL and PLL in two weeks while touring Europe, and by the time I touched down in America again, I had learned over 10 algorithms and received a personal best and my first sub 20 with a 19.87.

So with all the inspiration, I think it’s fair I give Anthony Brooks a big thank you for motivating me. I’m not sure if I ever would have gotten into speedcubing hard core unless I met him, but I did and I know my life has been changed for the better. So any time you are in Texas or a competition he might be at, make sure you talk to him to see what I’m talking about. Thanks Anthony!