Easing back into using CFOP | APB: polishing off LXS

[n0nco]

Hey, all! I've recently been getting back into 3x3, and I thought i should start a thread like this to keep my motivation going.

I'll be splitting this up into 4 chunks, one for CFOP, another for physical 2^4, a third one for learning APB, and the last one for writing down my progress with reading Wuthering Heights, and generally talking about it, since I have no where else to yap about it.


CFOP:
So far I've primarily been learning OLL and PLL, I'm nearly done OLL minus dots (just gotta practice awkward shape more), and I'll move on to focus on PLL after that, then consider learning dots.
Beyond that, I may try learning Winter Variant, if I've got no other algorithms to learn, but chances are I wont end up learning it.
Currently, I'm averaging ~23 seconds, and have been getting a decent amount of sub 20s! My biggest issue is definitely cross, I'm struggling to plan the entire cross within inspection, let alone plan out my first pair... alas, hopefully that'll come with time. I've also been dabbling my feet in lookahead! Which hasn't been going terrible, but it's definitely far from good.


Physical 2^4:
I've had this for a while now, but only recently learnt how to solve it, it's a very neat and unique puzzle, so if you're interested you should totally get it.
I plan to take this to a show and tell, and explain how it works as a 4D analogue, but to do that... I'd have to understand it myself, so I've been trying my best to learn about it, but I've been putting that to the wayside, and have generally been taking my time.
I can solve it with the method in Rowan Fortiers beginners guide, and I take around... 10 minutes to solve it, so I'm far from good, but when I focus on it more, I'll learn PBLBC (Permutation of Both Layers of Both Cells, which I'll not be going through), and ideally get a good idea of how to solve the virtual version, too!


APB:
This is a method I've heard about that really intrigues me, so I've been learning it solely for fun, + it has EO and block building, which are both pretty awesome and aren't in CFOP.
So far, I've learnt the beginner algorithms for the second step: EOpair, (where, right after building a 2x2x3 block on the left, you insert a f2l pair into the back slot and solve EO at the same time, using algs) and plan to learn the more advanced algs before learning the next steps algs.
There are quite a few algs in this method, so I think I'll be preoccupied learning these for a while, altho I'll focus on PLL algs first and foremost.

Spoiler: Non-cubing Wuthering Heights reading progress, no actual book spoilers

As of now, I'm very close to page 100/~240, and I've been reading for a few months... so incredibly slow progress, and I've been very inconsistent about it too, although I've recently been been a bit less so. (also the text is small and its from THE 1800S so it IS very hard to read...)
I'm enjoying the book so far, it is a bit miserably to read though, since the actual characters are all miserable, but it's still very compelling.

Thanks for reading! I'm not sure how often I'll post, maybe every 3 days? Either way, see you then.

 

[n0nco]

Hey, again, I'm going to update today, but I've decided to update on Saturdays for the future.

I've been pretty lazy the past few days, and I've only gotten a bit of progress.


CFOP:

Still practicing awkward shape, but the rest of my OLLs are OK-decent.
I've gotten decent progress on PLL, learning Na, Nb, and the G perms, I'm still not great at these, especially Nb, but I'm hoping to iron them out. once I'm done those I'll be finished with PLL, and I'll only have to finish the dot OLL algs, which'll probably be unavoidable as I learn more advanced F2L cases, which I have been doing today! Primarily White sticker up cases, so far.


Physical 2^4:

No progress, not even a single solve. I really ought to prioritise this since the Show & Tell has a deadline...


APB:

Same story, the algs are supposedly very easy to learn, but the quantity is very daunting.

I've found my ability to learn algs has dulled, and I'm struggling far more, perhaps I'm not putting as much effort in, or it's just since I'm rusty, but hopefully I'll get better with practice.

Spoiler: Non-cubing Wuthering Heights reading progress

Once again, I've been slacking, I did very little reading then read ~5 pages yesterday. Not great, and if I don't pick up the pace I'll take several months to finish the book...

All in all not great, ideally I focus on 2^4 and get a good amount of research done, but I may end up slacking again. Regardless, see you next Saturday!
(Also, if any of you have something to say, then I'd like to hear from you. ^^)

 

[AJT17]

APB:

Same story, the algs are supposedly very easy to learn, but the quantity is very daunting.

I've found my ability to learn algs has dulled, and I'm struggling far more, perhaps I'm not putting as much effort in, or it's just since I'm rusty, but hopefully I'll get better with practice.

Which alg sets are you currently learning?
To get started with APB, you only really need to know the 11 EO algs where the pair is already solved. Any of the EOPair algs where the pair isn't solved only save 0.3 moves, at the cost of over 100 more algs, and aren't very worth it until the highest level. You can also do LXS intuitively by solving either the FR pair first, then the DR edge, or solving the DR edge first, then solving the pair. And for LL, you only need to know the 11 OCLL and 21 PLL from CFOP.
You'll get much more improvement from your FB and 223 solutions than from learning any additional algs beyond EO, OLL, and PLL. This trainer is very helpful for improving your FB efficiency, but unfortunately, there aren't any dedicated trainers for practising 223.

Onionhoney's Roux Trainers

Roux trainer collection for all your cubing needs

onionhoney.github.io

If you'd like, you can also join the APB Discord, which has more information I might not have considered. Or, I can also help you with any other parts of APB if you want.

Join the APB Discord Server!

Check out the APB community on Discord – hang out with 1266 other members and enjoy free voice and text chat.

discord.gg

 

[n0nco]

Which alg sets are you currently learning?
To get started with APB, you only really need to know the 11 EO algs where the pair is already solved. Any of the EOPair algs where the pair isn't solved only save 0.3 moves, at the cost of over 100 more algs, and aren't very worth it until the highest level.

I was intending on learning the misoriented EOpair algs, and I currently know the 11 solved slot algs. But clearly it's more valuable to work on LXS, so I'll do that, I think.

You'll get much more improvement from your FB and 223 solutions than from learning any additional algs beyond EO, OLL, and PLL.

I suppose, but It doesn't really feel like I'm using APB if I use some botched LXS method, if I'm making any sense.

This trainer is very helpful for improving your FB efficiency, but unfortunately, there aren't any dedicated trainers for practising 223.

If you'd like, you can also join the APB Discord, which has more information I might not have considered. Or, I can also help you with any other parts of APB if you want.

Thanks for the suggestions (and general advice!), I'll try out the trainer sometime, and I'll join the server.

I'm guessing you use/know APB, then? Do you know the full method or most of it, and what do you average with it? Just curious.

 

[AJT17]

I was intending on learning the misoriented EOpair algs, and I currently know the 11 solved slot algs. But clearly it's more valuable to work on LXS, so I'll do that, I think.


I suppose, but It doesn't really feel like I'm using APB if I use some botched LXS method, if I'm making any sense.


Thanks for the suggestions (and general advice!), I'll try out the trainer sometime, and I'll join the server.

I'm guessing you use/know APB, then? Do you know the full method or most of it, and what do you average with it? Just curious.

That sounds like a good place to start since EOPair barely saves anything with some experience.

If full LXS is too much, you could try to figure out some more intuitive ways to do it. Since most cases have similar triggers and other parts. But it'll be more helpful than EOPair right now.

Yeah, I know APB, but just EO, intuitive LXS and half of ZBLL. But I average around 10-11 2H. And 14 OH, which I am the WB holder for. But I have quite a bit of experience with it by now, and the biggest part to be good at is 223, which I'm decent with.

 

[n0nco]

Hey! I was sailing on Wednesday and managed to twist my kneecap and get my thumb crushed, so I've been taking it easy:

My right thumbs knuckle joint has gotten bone-bruised (I was drifting in a speedboat with quite a bit of momentum, and tried to grab a dinghy, but made a bad movement and got my thumb crushed), so I didn't do much cubing until Friday, where I did a bit of cubing but not much. My thumb has been recovering quite swiftly, and it's only really sore under a lot of pressure or if I intentionally press on the joint, so I have been cracking on with it. Realistically, I've gotten off very well, the bone bruising could've been way worse, or I could've had a worse injury altogether, like a fracture.

Today I've lubed my 4x4 (that I should've lubed AGES ago), and have been learning Yau and parities, I may add a section for it in the future, since it's rather fun, but not yet at least.


CFOP:

More or less done PLL, I can easily execute G perms and Na, although I'm still a bit iffy at Nb. Even though I can recognise and solve them, I definitely cannot do them fast (Other than my beloved Na perm), so I'm gonna train them, and likely train all my other PLLs too, since they're not all that great.

For OLL, I've started learning the dots, and I'm not very far in, I started learning them just before sailing when I damaged my thumb, but I obviously had to stop and forget that bit of learning I did, I pickup them back up on Friday and I'm not getting along with it terribly. I'm still struggling with awkward shape, though. (I'll put an image showing the case)

All in all, I have a lot of drilling to do, then I'll start focusing on cross and F2L.


Physical 2^4:

I feel pathetic for this, but yet again... no progress, I guess I gotta toughen up and just do it already, I'll make sure to get a lot done by next Saturday.


APB:

I've realised that casually learning a side method that has 100s of algs "just for fun" is super unrealistic, no way I'm retaining those algs. So I'm shelving it for now, I MAY try it again, but it's very unlikely, perhaps I should try roux instead or something...

Spoiler: Non-cubing Wuthering Heights reading progress

Not a lot of progress, but I got a bit done: I'm on page ~110. I'm really enjoying actually reading it though, which is exactly why it feels a bit stupid I'm so reluctant to pick it up in the first place.

Not proud of this progress, I've been using my injuries as an excuse to be lazy, which is super unreasonable.
I'm going to go lube my 4x4s core rings now, see you next week, hopefully with far more progress!

 

[n0nco]

Hey! (For the 4th time since i have no idea what else to say...)

This time around I've been messing with random methods, notably Roux, Heise, and Shadowslice Snow Columns. This has definitely taken time away from CFOP (and other things), but I think it's still good practice nonetheless; I'll share my thoughts on each:

Roux: Admittedly rather boring IMO, but good blockbuilding practice.

Heise: Also good good blockbuilding practice, but way funner, and also good practice for Commutators and it helps with a general better manipulation of the cube.

SSC: Very fun, good practice for EO, I believe this method has less merit as a form of practice, but it's very fun regardless and I do intend on getting better at it.

CFOP:

I've engaged with rather little practice of it, but I have drilled the Dots a bit, and I am confident with G-perms and N perms, which means PLL is done for the 2-3rd time! OLL is generally going well, the awkward case is still an issue but far less so. I'm about 50% done with Dots.

Physical 2^4:

I've learnt a bit about it, and I'm starting to figure it out to an extent, still, the virtual form has no guide so I have to settle for a 3^4 guide, Which is painfully obtuse and annoying... Regardless, I have found some other resources which I'm going through. I'm definitely in the "hard bit" of learning new puzzles (The tedious, annoying bit at the start, where you have to actually learn how the puzzle works, then it all becomes so much easier). I'll likely just have to ask a lot of questions in the hypercubing discord, but I'll feel rather pathetic asking stupid obvious questions... Alas.

Spoiler: Non-cubing Wuthering Heights reading progress

Not terrible progress, finally hit halfway! (page 120/240, the pages have small text) I'm feeling a mix of proud and pathetic at the same time, but I'm trying to focus more on the progress rather than the pace.

See you next week, I'm setting a goal of finishing learning Dots & having drilled all my algs. I may also add an SSC section.

 

[n0nco]

Might be time to get a new main…

 

[abunickabhi]

Might be time to get a new main…
View attachment 48090

Which main cube did you buy then?

 

[n0nco]

Another week, another set of excuses...

Well, this time I didn't stay lazy and do nothing all the time, but I have diverted my focus from cubing towards reading, and I had something happening IRL so I was emotionally distracted, to some degree.

I've also been watching a lot of Netflix, primarily Better Call Saul, which is a very long series, and I'm a binge watcher, so I've been sorta wasting a significant amount of time on that.

CFOP: As per my mismanagement of time, no significant progress has occurred. So no, I have not completed my goal. I will be rerunning the goal this week.

Physical 2^4: Same story. except I am disappointed in myself for it, hopefully I'll make some progress by next week! ^^

Spoiler: Non-cubing Wuthering Heights reading progress

A big part of where my priorities were directed, I'm on page 166/245, roughly 45 pages in 1 week! Doesn't seem like much, but it's genuinely incredible progress for me, and I'm feeling proud of it. I feel as though I've finally gotten into the rhythm of it, and I have a genuine unforced desire to go read throughout the day. (And I've finally got into the habit of reading daily.)

At this pace, I'll be done in 2 weeks! I'd expect my pace to potentially slow down though, as I did read up to 8 pages in a single day, which is a record for me. Another potential is that my reading skills are FINALLY improving, and I won't be getting exhausted at 4-5, and may soon be capable of routinely reading 8+ pages a day.

I know this seems like an insignificant concern, but I'm sort of scared of finishing Wuthering Heights, because It's been such a big part of my life for the past few months, and I'm worried that, once I've finished it, it'll feel like theres a piece missing from my life. Reading it has been such a habitual, familiar, and almost comforting thing, that, even though I'll start progress on another difficult book, I'll be stuck missing Emily Brontë's writing style and its familiarity. All in all, that is entirely hypothetical, so we'll have to see how it goes.

I've decided to changes updates to Thursday/Friday, depending on how I feel. Meaning I'll have to start working on my goals immediately after making the post, since Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday are pretty busy for me, and I end up considerably tired, but for the rest of the days I'm mostly free, and if the last days of my week are all busy days, then clearly I can't procrastinate on my goals until the last day, and I'll be forced to hop to it, or at least thats the idea.

Hopefully thats everything I had in mind to say, see you next week.

 

[n0nco]

Busy week! I haven't had a lot of free-time.

In particular we've been going to open days for colleges, which has taken up a good chunk of my time. I've also been developing a method, which has been very fun, and has taken up a decent bit of time too. I suppose when I do start college I'll have this amount of free-time on average, and will have to get better at making the most of such little time.

CFOP:

I've not completed my goal, due to my lack of time, but I have been drilling the dots, and started learning some Winter Variation algs. I have also ordered a TV5 (and weight 5), and it should arrive tomorrow.


Physical 2^4:

This not only requires time, but also quite a bit of mental energy, which I also had less to spare of than usual.

Spoiler: Non-cubing Wuthering Heights reading progress

Less progress than from last week, but still pretty good: 191/245, so 25 pages in a week, which is decent consistent progress, for my pace. If I try really hard i could be done by next week.

Not much progress done this week, but I've got a lot of free-time ahead of my, so I've got a good feeling about this week. See you then.

 

[n0nco]

Hello, again!

My TV5 arrived, and I'm enjoying it a lot. It's very fast, but in comparison, my old cubes now feel slow and blocky, so I'm enjoying it a lot. Plus I think it'll help me develop a better turning style. My settings are 1 away max for the edge + corner magnets, 4/8 for the core distance, and 6/8 for tension.


CFOP:

This has been my main focus, since I wanted to try out the TV5. I have finished learning dots (and OLL altogether, due to that), and I've drilled each OLL at least once; Most of my OLLs are sub 4, which is good enough for me, currently. I intend to focus on PLL now: I think I'm gonna try for sub 2-3 seconds for each, and learn the AUFS, depending on how I get on.

I also randomly got a 13.20 PB single the other day! Here's the scramble: D2 R' D' B' R' B' R2 B' L2 D B2 U' F2 L2 U R2 L2 U2 L2 D


Learning about Physical 2^4 for a presentation:

Either I don't really want to do this, or, as is more likely, I'm simply lazy/bad at utilising my abundance of free-time. Clearly I need to work on that... I may try a schedule, or some other form of time management, to get myself to focus up.

For context, this presentation gets repeated every few months, and is opt-in, so it doesn't really have any form of deadline/necessity. I have to make my own motivation, which is definitely a skill I need to develop.

Spoiler: Non-cubing Wuthering Heights reading progress

After 138 days, I have finally finished the book. I started reading the day after Christmas, and took a roughly month long "break", while I went on holiday, over the winter break. It wasn't an intentional break, it was more-so a severe lack of motivation. anyway, I've been imagining it'd be an incredible relieve and weight off my shoulder, the moment I finished it, but as you may guess, that didn't end up being the case! I, in truth, actually felt the relieve/joy throughout the last ~month of reading, when my capabilities had a sudden major uptick. That was a positive surprise to me, as it goes to show I really didn't dislike the book, and was solely frustrated with the process. I'm very glad my reading skills have finally developed.

I only really started recording my progress when my pace picked up, so I likely haven't properly displayed how much of a struggle the process was. At the start, and for a long time, it was a slow unmotivated trudge through the book, and I could barely read 4 pages in a day. Wuthering Heights is the first novel I've read in years, so I was truly starting from next to nothing. I'm very proud of how far I've come from then.

For anyone wondering, I would totally recommend Wuthering Heights, if you'd be inclined to, then you should read it.

Now, since I'm finally moving on from Wuthering Heights, I'll be picking up "House of leaves", which is also a very dense and difficult to read book, and is actually longer than Wuthering Heights, so it may be an even more difficult struggle.

Overall, I'm happy with this week. I'm going to be focusing on 2^4 this time around, and by proxy I'll be trying some methods to better utilise my time. See you next time.

 

[n0nco]

Hey folks. It's been a busy half-term, and my priorities weren't focused on updating this thread, and by the time I could update it, it wasn't worth it, so I left it until now.

Since half-term has been so busy for me so far, I've not really had time to sit down and focus on cubing. That's not to say I haven't done much cubing though, since I bring my cube with me almost everywhere, meaning I've had plenty of time to do slow-solves/mess around/learn algs during empty intervals.

Recently, that not-super-dedicated cubing time was spent on learning an algset, that algset being LXS! As this implies, I've decided to pick up APB again, which I'll elaborate on in it's section.


CFOP: I suppose I've done a few slow solves, not much though. WV has taken a backseat, but the algs I do know are well learnt now.


Studying Physical 2^4: Had no time for it.


APB: So, I'm picking it up again for a couple of reasons:

For one, The alg count actually isn't as large as I thought. I've learnt EOPair is rather redundant to learn, courtesy of @AJT17, and that LXS is only 116 algs (when I thought it was 2-3 hundred..? I also thought EOPair was 300 algs??), Meaning I'd need to learn far less algs than I thought. 107 new ones, to be exact. As of current, I have less than 90 to learn.

APB is also literally the perfect method for me, in terms of being interesting and fun: It has EO, blockbuilding, no rotations, M and S moves (I know S moves are unergonomic, but they're personally interesting and fun to use, and it's not like APB painfully relies on them.), a large alg-count to churn on (with a lot of optional but beneficial algsets to learn), and LXS, which is an incredibly fun algset.

To be fair, I've noticed I burn through learning new methods rather quickly: When I learnt Heise, I was considerably interested in it for a few days, but of course that interest ran out in due time. Same goes for SSC, for which I literally said I was going to try and get better at. The pattern is, I learn the outline of the method, get very intrigued, then I familiarise myself with the method, but only on a particularly shallow level (I don't end up learning the proper algs or getting fluent with the method), and then, I lose interest.

I believe APB is different since it ticks off all my boxes for being interesting, and there are no major drawbacks. But of course, we'll have to wait and see.

On the topic of "APB being my perfect method", would I want to main it? Well currently, I've reckoned on considering it after learning LXS and properly familiarising myself with the method. To be fair, this reminds me of scenarios in which you have to make a decision, and you do a whole lot of mulling over it, but from the start you know you're going to choose to a certain option (often the reckless option), regardless of said consideration. Perhaps thats just me who goes through that, but regardless, I'll have to see what I choose in the end. Either way, I'll still be practicing CFOP.

So far, I've learnt all the EO algs, but my recog isn't pretty, and its not all fully in my muscle memory yet.

For LXS, I'm currently learning the UFR set. The DR edge at UF subset went very smoothly, and I've only got minor hiccups on the third case in it.
For the DR edge at UL set, it's mostly going fine, but case 2 and 3 (to clarify, this is from left to right in that subsets row) are a still a bit iffy.
Today I worked on DR at UB, which has gone worse than all the previous ones, as I had less time to work on it. Still, I've mostly learnt the cases.

My current goals are finishing LXS by the end of June, which gives me a bit over a month, but I may give myself an extra week or so, if needed. I don't want to go too fast and get suffocated by the amount of cases. I'd want to have a solid foundation and to properly learn each case, rather than have half learnt each case and have it all tumble down on me.

I'm trying to learn a set each week, so this week I'm learning UFR, but next week I'll learn RFU, and so on. I'm learning 5 algs a day at this pace, and leaving 2 days for compartmentalising the cases in my brain, ensuring a proper understanding and correct recog/recall. If I need to insert an extra day to slow down and work on previous cases in my schedule, then I'll do that. For the DFR/RDF/FRD sets, they're much smaller, so I'll likely do all 3 in 1-2 weeks. I also intend on watching videos on FB and focusing on improving my solutions, but that may take a backseat, at least until I learn UFR LXS.

For tomorrow, I'm only going to learn 1-2 algs, and primarily drill the last 3 subsets I've been learning. I think I'll do it in "waves": at first, I'll do each subset separately, then I'll take a ~20 min break. After the break, I'll drill all 3 subsets at once, and for the final wave I'll do what I did for the first wave again.

Also, I've noticed I've de-rusted my alg learning skills, and I'm thankfully back full swing.

So far, I've properly learnt ~31/116 LXS cases, 20 of those being F2L pairs. Including partially learnt cases, the number is 35/116.

Spoiler: Non-cubing House of Leaves reading progress

It's going good. I'm enjoying the book, and I'm on page 37. I had to take a break during half-term though, and should shortly be resuming reading, no fret.

Feels good to have all my thoughts on APB out. I'm a little tired so perhaps the quality won't be on-par with previous posts. Also, I'd like feedback on my use of parentheses, if anyone has any strong feelings on it. I'm worried it's choppy to read through, due to them being interposed between sentences/lists. Thanks for reading, and see you next week!

 

[n0nco]

Hello, folks.

I’ve devised a schedule for the dual-method practice, which should help by encouraging more targeted practice, properly segmenting which methods I practice throughout the week (I have been neglecting CFOP), and by introducing a (considerably forgiving) quota.

The quota is an hour and a half daily. The first hour is spent on that days “subject”, and the rest is spent on purely solving.


CFOP:

For the schedule, on Sunday, I’ll focus on cross and inspection; on Monday, I’ll focus on Lookahead; on Tuesday, I’ll focus on F2L solutions; on Wednesday, it’ll be last layer. This is a more general day, since both methods share LL, so the solves after the targeted practice could be either method. I may occasionally use this day for a different subject, as I see fit.

Nothing to report for progression, which is why I’ve decided to set this schedule in place.


Studying 2^4:

I’m going to run an experiment: On days where my morning is free (if it’s not free, I’ll potentially do it after lunch), I’ll let myself decide between getting up immediately and going on a walk/cycle ride, or, I can set my mind to 2^4.

I’ll hopefully learn something from that.

APB: The schedules going to be DFDB and BR PAIR on Thursday, FB on Friday, and LXS on Saturday.

I’ve learnt a lesson for alg learning: Don’t rush ahead without properly drilling previous algs beforehand. I started on RFU before drilling UFR, AND, for no good reason, tried learning 10 algs at once instead of 5. Paired with the fact I became absolutely obsessed with outer wilds for the week, and henceforth didn’t drill UFR for a few days, meant a few UFR algs slipped, and any time spent on RFU was worth next to nothing. A mistake like this doesn’t just mean the algs you were learning slips, it shakes the entire foundation (at least according to my experience). Hopefully that makes sense.

Alas, after recently drilling UFR a few times, I’ve decided my muscle memory is good enough to move on. Theres just this one case I mistake for a different one sometimes (8, mistaken for 13), and this other case I suddenly changed my alg for because I dislike the standard one (14), even after trying it and using it for some time. Regardless, I’m counting these as properly learnt.

Now, after this unfortunate obstacle, it’s time for me to start off RFU.

This all means I have learnt 48/116 LXS algs! Decent progress, considering how slow I am at most things, and the hurdle I’ve mentioned. ^^

I’ve also been doing a bit of FB training, but it’s been nothing special, and I’ve not really improved significant. I’ve also also noticed DFDB and BR pair are surprisingly difficult and important, which I didn’t expect. I’m probably going to learn BR pair algs after LXS.

Spoiler: Non-cubing House of Leaves reading progress

This has taken the biggest hit from outer wilds taking over my life for a few days. My seemingly steadfast reading habit crumbled surprisingly quickly… and adjusting to the different writing style means I’ve by no means been reading quickly. ~40/~700

Overall, I’m feeling optimistic for these plans. I’m not sure how well CFOP lookahead transfers to APB lookahead, so perhaps I’ll need to adjust the schedule depending on what I need to learn for each given method. Also, if there’s anything I could improve with the schedule (or if it just sucks in general, I wouldn’t know), then I’d be grateful to hear the advice. One last thing: I may consider switching the updates to Wednesday, since thats kind of the crux of the week now. Wish me luck, See you next week.

 

[n0nco]

Hey!

This week has honestly been pretty informative, and I’m happy with it, despite some issues.


CFOP:

Absolutely 0 progress, I didn’t abide by the schedule in the slightest. My favourable interpretation is that adjusting to a new schedule and learning to follow the quotas will take some time, and I’ll soon get into the habit of listening to them.

To elaborate, I have had 0 desire to use/train CFOP, and I’ve just wanted to practice APB: I’m predicting this “craze” will die down in due time, and I’ll eventually not be so obsessed with APB.

Going forward, I’ll try my best to keep my quotas in mind throughout the day, since I’ve forgot I set them most of the time.


Studying Physical 2^4:

The experiment has turned out well! I've only gotten to try it twice, but the conclusion is clear: when I give myself the choice between 2 things I don't really want to do, I'm probably going to do at least 1, compared to saying "I am going to do this thing in the morning.", where the result is often disregarding it. I'm not sure why this is the case, but it's good to know.

Another interesting thing: this morning I forgot I had to leave at around 10, and so I woke up and immediately started "studying" 2^4. 30 minutes later my mum reminded me I had to go soon, and I was able to get fully prepared.

My mindset is that unless I have a completely clear schedule I shouldn’t start on something (despite the fact I know thats obviously irrational), so this more or less disproves that belief: I’ll try to improve upon my mindset by keeping this experience in mind.

For the progress itself, I’m watching a playlist called “Introduction to Hypercubing“, and currently the videos are entirely focused on higher dimensions — not specifically Hypercubing. They’re pretty hard to grasp, and I’ve not really comprehended them fully, but I’m trying my best.


APB:

I forgot to practice DFDB/BR pair yesterday (I got distracted by calling with a friend), but I’ll make sure to practice FB today.

From generally practicing APB, I’ve been improving in all aspects to some extent, but none of them are “good”, and the improvement isn’t extreme or anything.

LXS has been going very well! I woke up really early yesterday, so I used that spare time to drill all the LXS algs I’ve learnt. With that drilling, I ensured that — for the most part — I know the RFU set, and can now move on to FUR. Of course, there are still some problem children in each set, but it’s nothing that can’t be ironed out later.

Several times now, I’ve had the urge to try and learn 2 subsets at once, or to speed ahead without first ensuring I’ve finished RFU, but, keeping in mind my previous experience, I’ve been careful to not do that, and thanks to that caution, I’ve had no hiccups!

FUR is seemingly the easiest set yet, since the edge and corner match, meaning 4/25 cases have the pair pre built, and if not, you can sometimes simply pair them up yourself, and then you can very easily insert both DR and the pair together.

For an example, see the first subset (DF at UF): 3/5 of the cases just set up to the 3rd case (alg 63, UF/UR) with a few moves, and since I’m already familiar with the muscle memory for that case (it shows up in previous algs), I only need to learn the muscle memory for the few moves before that case!

All of that is a long winded way to say 4/5 cases in the first subset of FUR are essentially free! Hopefully my explanation was understandable.

So far, I have learnt 78/116 LXS algs! I’m so close to being done… I predict I’ll have learnt the rest in less than 2 weeks!

Spoiler: Non-cubing House of Leaves reading progression

I haven’t read much at all. Hopefully more news next week.

Hopefully you can see why I’m so happy with this week. See you soon!

 

[K3n]

Hi! I just want to let you know that you should learn how to solve the virtual 3^4 before the 2^4 just like how you would recommend beginners to learn the 3x3 before the 2x2. If you have any question that you don't want to ask the hypercubing discord server you could ask me! I've only been hypercubing for more than 2 month (got some WBs) so I feel like I can understand a newcomer's perspective pretty well!

Edit: A tip for cracking the virtual hypercubes is to literally forget all the things you learn about solving the physical 2^4 except for the RKT part, since they are almost completely different concepts.

 

[n0nco]

I'm going to forgo this weeks update. I don't have much to write about, and I just don't really have it in me.

 

[n0nco]

Once again, not much to write about and not much motivation to write. I got burnt out from learning the algs so aggressively and decided to take a break, but I haven't gotten back on track. More on that next week.

 

[Renslay]

Have you seen Mathologer's video about the physical 2^4? One of the best explanation videos out there!

I also made a presentation on a puzzle expo a couple of months ago, based on this video.

I even did a 2d Hedgehog application myself:

GitHub - HantosNorbert/2D-Hedgehog: A graphical application that simulates a 3-dimensional 2x2x2 Rubik's Cube "unfolded" into 2D.

A graphical application that simulates a 3-dimensional 2x2x2 Rubik's Cube "unfolded" into 2D. - HantosNorbert/2D-Hedgehog

github.com

His other video on the 4d cube is also great:

 

[n0nco]

It really sucks to have to do this, but once again, postponing a proper update until Friday. Short update:

The presentation is on Thursday, and I've made decent progress. I decided to start on the easier stuff and after that the harder stuff started feeling far less insurmountable. I'm finishing up some of the more confusing bits today, then I'm going to run it by some other people to ensure I'm not wrong about my understanding, then I'm doing a test-presentation with my parents, and after that it should be done. I feel hopeful about the outcome! I'm sorry to have not properly updated this for so long.