World Championships Experience Thread!

[Ton]

...I had to beg Ton to let me do 4x4x, because I arrived right before the end?

Normally I would not allow, but you where honest on your late arrival, in combination that it is the WC. With this in mind, I could let you compete because the schedule allowed it. You are a lucky man......

 

[Sin-H]

...I ate at a table with the Austrian Florian Herzog and the Germans Julianne, Jana, Julian, and Jan?

...Stefan Huber is awesome?
...his nickname should be "Super-Duper Über-Cuber Huber"?

...we squished 4 Austrians and me into Sanio's Mini Cooper?
...we went to McDonald's to eat?
...they called it "Macky"?
...the cashier gave me a free apple pocket when he asked he how I did and i told him I set the German NR?

...I was dazing in the car?
...all the European cubers are awesome

some things to mention there: a) Julian is Austrian
b) thx you are awesome too!

c) that car trip was epic!!!

and, when you were asleep, Sanio turned around to the back row and said: "ok, let's check... thrombosis, dead, thrombosis..." [in reference to us big guys having to sit in the back row of a Mini Cooper and Lucas sleeping xD]

d) all the American cubers are as awesome!!!



some funny quotes:
Rowe Hessler: "One of the judges wants me. It's weird, but she wants me."

me: "Dan, are you ready for sub12 avg?" Dan Dzoan: "I dunno. I wanna make it to the finals, but I guess I'm just not good enough" me: "NOT GOOD ENOUGH!!!! [whips]" [for how i met your mother fans only, but most of the americans got it]

me: "already drinking german beer, he?" Dan Dzoan: "wasn't that the whole point in doing it in germany? drinking beer?"

I am solving... some girl next to me: "Holy shiiiiit!"


quotes @ my cube:

Erik: "oh no, that cube is... [takes the next one] and that one too... oh my god... so loose... horrible"

Dan Cohen: "I will never touch that cube again. EVER!!!"

Tomasz Zolnowski: "wow, it's loose. [pops it] sorry..."

Eric Limeback: "wow, it's really loose." me: "Erik sais it's horrible" Eric: "oh, no; his cube is horrible"

Breandan: "oh ****!" later: "you really are the only one who can solve that cube"

Ryan Patricio: "wow, it's a good cube!!! I like loose cubes. Maybe we have the same style"

Nora Christ: "****!"

Harris Chan: "incredible!"

Rowe Hessler: "you know, watching your videos, I thought your cubes were really good..."

Lars Vandenbergh: "I think you can pop it just by shaking it!"

Yumu Tabuchi[pops it]: "..."

Yohei Suzuki: "wow, it's... smooth"

Karsten: "****, Alter, wie?" [****, dude, how?]

Andrew Kang: "it's good!"

Rama: "oh no, it's so easy to turn"

Milán: "it's nice, but too loose for me."

Mitchell Stern: [after popping it] "erm... sorry..."

Anthony Searle: "oh my god! sorry!"

Dan Dzoan: "hm..."

Sinpei Araki: "wow!"

 

[tehmaxice]

Did YOU know:

...I never got sub 2:20 on 5x5 at our hostel (or even now), but got a 2:04 in
competition?
...I'm a lone Icelandic cuber ;(
...Teemu holds the longest standing WR in Elasto Mania?
...Rama beat the norwegians one-handed, while we were solving two-handed?
...Rama's mother thought Henrik Buus Aagaard was norwegian?
...Rama is a fun guy?
...I had the same 3x3 avg. as Bob Burton, but beat him on fastest single solve?
...Chris Hardwick came way too early on sunday, but then we could chat with someone^^
...The swedes speak english to the norwegians, because they can't understand norwegian?
...Noone understands danish?
...Tyson's mystery events were really great^^


Looking forward to next championships

 

[Carrot]

Did YOU know:

...The swedes speak english to the norwegians, because they can't understand norwegian?
...Noone understands danish?

you get it ALL wrong xD... it's swedish noone understands... not danish... danish is easy xD

 

[Kickflip1993]

Did you know that

...the World Championship was my first Competition?
...there are not enough Austrian cubers?
...every single cuber that I met was really nice?
...I will come to WC 2011 too and hope to see you all there?
...Lucas Garron looks kinda like the guy singing: Big in Japan"?
...Pasquale and I beat National records at Megaminx?
...Stefan was a bit sad bout that?
...Gigaminxes were really cheap at the V-Cubes stand?
...my first timed solve (second ever) was sub 30 minutes?
...Pasquale hates me for this?
...I can´t cube well, when i am sitting on one of there shaky seats they had?
...I almost got a +2 on 3x3x3, even if the cube was rotated 40° at max?
...almost every name was mispronounced once (Erik Akkersdorf )
...this list ends here?

 

[Gunnar]

Did YOU know:

...The swedes speak english to the norwegians, because they can't understand norwegian?
...Noone understands danish?

you get it ALL wrong xD... it's swedish noone understands... not danish... danish is easy xD

Ok, I'm swedish and I can give you the facts.

Danish is not possible to understand. I wonder how they even understand eachother.
Norweigian is possible to understand, unless they are from the southwest.

 

[SimonWestlund]

...Pasquale and I beat National records at Megaminx?

And I

Really fun competition Hope to see some of you again in the close future

@Gunnar: Totally agree. Danish speak like they have porridge in their mouths.

 

[KConny]

I can understand it, and apparently speak it as well.

 

[masterofthebass]

...Pasquale and I beat National records at Megaminx?

And I

me 4! too bad I suck compared to you guys.

 

[Pedro]

it was a great weekend (followed by a visit to Paris, but that's not important)

Did you know that:
- I did really bad on the 3x3 first round? 17.xx and a POP gave me a 15.73 avg, 75th place, not into 2nd round
- I did kinda good at OH and BLD, getting to the final and being top-10 on both?
- I finally got a 4x4x4 bld success, but it was too slow to get me on podium? I just reviewed a lot to make sure I would get it, so I'm not sad
- I broke my megaminx SAR average for just more than a second?
- I failed really badly at pyraminx and square-1?
- Yumu Tabuchi is really fast at a lot of events? O_o
- Stefan Huber's cube is indeed really loose?
- I now have a Rubik's 360º, but can't solve it?
- Edouard Chambon and Adam Polkowski and Yumu Tabuchi didn't make it to the 3x3x3 final? O_o
- Doing team bld with a japanese guy is really funny?
- and that Tomy and me actually solved it in 9:43?
- and he was saing "R R R" for R'?

- I can still drive a car after more than a week of no driving at all?
- I still have to unpack my stuff and catch up with school?
- Paris is a nice town, but not that nice when you're tired and have to walk a LOT


this was really a great experience, many thanks to everybody who helped making it possible

 

[Tyson]

- Arnaud and me made sure that Adam actually got more guy kisses than girl kisses?

Uhuh....

Pedro and I have been discussing, and we have come to the conclusion that we should isolate all finalists from each other. In a pit of SNAKES! Relax... relax... YOU FALL YOU DIE!

I am Lugash.

*I appreciate very much the compliments on the mystery puzzles. We had some better ideas, but weren't given the time to implement them. Please make this motivation for you guys to attend the US Open next year. I will personally see that you have a place to stay, and hopefully for free. (You have to pay for your flight though... I have no money.)

 

[BinomDreher]

...I actually managed to snatch a cardboard cube from the stage at the end?
...I forgot to have people sign it for me?

HAH! I remember that one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDHIevr9MwI

Is there by the way any interest in "random videos" from WC like that one? Also I sadly often missed some good solves because I filmed the "wrong" cuber ( which is why for example I filmed Dan when Erik got his 39s 4x4x4 solve *sigh_sorryErik*^^)

 

[Radu]

This thread is so fun to read.
Did you know Yumu Tabuchi had a lot of bad luck in the semis and he probably got a 8.xx time when the timer did not work? Maybe someone has that clip.

 

[Markus Pirzer]

Did you know that...
... I didn't compete in many events because I remained on the waiting list for most events I was registered?
... it was a very great competiton anyway?
... I got place 8 at the Master Magic although I was not completely satisfied with my time (could have been place 4 with an better time)?
... I was scrambling or judging in almost every event I didn't compete?
... I was assigned as scrambler for the 7x7x7 although I wrote to Ron and Maik that I am willing to scramble only small cubes?
... you don't have to re-scramble a 7x7x7 when you scrambled it wrong?
... after some tries I even scrambled two cubes in a row absolutely right?
... officials (including scrambles and judges) didn't have to pay for food and drink? I didn't know that until they saw my name badge and told me that I don't have to pay.
... I got deposit back although I told them that I didn't pay anything?
... This didn't work again the next day because they usually used other cups for officials?
... I was late at the party because I walked back to my hotel (which was near the venue), drove on my own to the hostel and had to wait more than 30 minutes for the bus from one side of the bridge to the other side?
... I left the party at about 23:30 to get the last bus back and it took me more than 2 hours to get back to my hotel because the S6 train scheduled at 0:01 at the main railway station was replaced (due to track work) by a bus at 0:46 which took ages to get to the next railway station?

 

[Carrot]

Did YOU know:

...The swedes speak english to the norwegians, because they can't understand norwegian?
...Noone understands danish?

you get it ALL wrong xD... it's swedish noone understands... not danish... danish is easy xD

Ok, I'm swedish and I can give you the facts.

Danish is not possible to understand. I wonder how they even understand eachother.
Norweigian is possible to understand, unless they are from the southwest.

You are still wrong..

Norwegian is possible to understand, unless they are from the southwest (the more north, the more danish O__o I wonder if they even know that they are not danish anymore haha xD)
Swedish is weird... it's only possible to understand half of the sentences.. the rest is just crap -.-
Danish is very easy to understand... (just not for swedes because there swearwords etc. is some of our (danes) most used words... xD) and if you are not danish... DON'T try to read aloud danish xD in danish you only pronounce half of the letters and the rest isn't pronounced as it's spelled:fp

 

[jfly]

Did you know that...
...Thai cubers put the same product they put in their hair in their cubes?
...that it smells amazing?
...and I have a bottle of it?
...Fleischman is a German name?
...and I don't speak a word of German, to the surprise of every judge?
...I raced Andrew Kang at least 100 times this weekend, and won twice?
...Racing with the OH masters of the world is awesome?
...Tyson and I saw a pyraminx that was both >60 degrees and <60 degrees from being solved?

 

[cmhardw]

Worlds was so amazing!

I'm just going to write here, and try not to make this too long. My favorite parts about Germany were:

- The BEER! Holy ****! The first draft beer I drank at a bar was, no joke, the best beer I've ever had, ever! Reinheitsgebot FTW! (And yes I know it is no longer still a law)

- Backpacking around Germany was amazing! I mailed all of my cubes to my home address and just travelled around after worlds! I saw Berlin, Munich, Füssen (Neuschwanstein), and of course the downtown area of Düsseldorf. My favorites were taking a city tour of Berlin, the train ride from Munich to Füssen, the German train system in general (it's amazing!), speaking German all day for days straight! That is except for when my German was so bad that people would answer me in English :-(

Ok Worlds:
Worlds this year was really very well run! Many thanks to Ron, Ton, Seven Towns, all the staff who helped out for the weekend, and anyone I didn't mention who helped out! This competition ran very smoothly, we were ahead of schedule a lot! We even had time for mystery events, which I was happy about!

As for my personal performance, I am very happy about how I did at Worlds this year! The competition is so incredibly tough nowadays compared to 2003! I got 5th place in 3x3x3 BLD (with a new competition pb time in the final!), 3rd place in 4x4x4 BLD, and 2nd place in 5x5x5 BLD! I DNF'd both of my first solves in the big cubes BLD, and I got scared. One of the worst feelings of my cubing career was DNF'ing both solves for 5x5x5 BLD at worlds 2007. So for each of my 2nd, and last, solves I went super careful to make sure I got a success. My hat is off to all the fast guys who were able to handle their nerves and get fast times even under that intense pressure!

I can't believe I got 5th place in 3x3x3 BLD! I almost feel like I don't deserve it, because my world rank is in the mid-30's, but I am so happy that I was able to get a competition pb in the final, especially after getting so nervous at big cubes BLD! BH method on 3x3x3 FTW!

There were so many cool people to meet as well!

I enjoyed hanging out with:
- Frank Morris and Konstantinos at the Vcube booth
- Andrew Kang!
- Bob, Shelley, Tyson, Chris and Dan, Toby, Adam, Tim, Patrick, Ryan, and all the other US cubers who made it! I didn't get a chance to hang out with everyone, but I did talk with many other US cubers!
- Jared Phelps and his Dad, they were great people!
- Erik Akkersdijk! Arnaud! Jaap! Joël! Rama! All the Dutch guys!
- Henrik! Mondo! Rafal! Everyone who was super early on Sunday and I got to hang out with before they allowed us in!
- Oliver Perge!
- All the remaining people (only 10 of us!) who have attended world competitions since 2003
- Jasmine and Peter!
- Guus! Thanks so much for the FMC help!
- The German speedcubers! I didn't get to hang out with everyone, but I did get to talk to Kai, Dennis, Tim, Stefan, Oliver, Sebastien, Lucas (hey he's German!), and a few more whose names I sadly did not catch :-( But we still got to hang out
- And of course, Dror Vomberg! If it weren't for Dror I would not be a BLD solver!
- Also I enjoyed talking with Shuka from Israel, who discovered his own solution to the cube when it first came out, and was a very cool guy to talk to!
- Talking with Amaury about the current state of cubing (and the future), as well as trading algs!
- Ron! Yes The Ron! I only got to talk with him a couple times when we were both scrambling, or when he had free time, but it was great! Ron was sort of a mentor for me in the early 2000's when I was trying to learn how to get faster!
- Ton! Ton was very busy, and I didn't get to talk with him much, but it is always neat to meet "The Cube Doctor" in person!
- Peter Jansen!


There are many, many more but this post is getting too long and I don't think everyone will read it. To those who I hung out with and had a blast with, but did not mention here, you are not forgotten! I had a blast, and only wish I had more room to write!

Thanks everyone, Worlds this year was amazing! I can't wait for 2011!

Chris

 

[Shortey]

Did YOU know:

...The swedes speak english to the norwegians, because they can't understand norwegian?
...Noone understands danish?

you get it ALL wrong xD... it's swedish noone understands... not danish... danish is easy xD

Norwegians understand swedish easily. =P

 

[shelley]

Did you know...

- I was surprised to meet up with Rowe and Tyson at the airport in Paris. They had missed their earlier connecting flight to Dusseldorf because Rowe was walking too slow.
- If you're going to a foreign country, never withdraw cash from airport ATMs.
- Team California (+Bob) booked two rooms at the Novotel. The first night, there were three people in one room and six in the other. We didn't think things through very well.
- If Lucas tells you to do something, do the exact opposite (or, you know, look up the relevant information, like the address of your hotel, which might be important, beforehand). Otherwise you may get stranded in the middle of a foreign city.
- Adam, Bob and I tried to throw fruit snacks from our window into Tyson's room a floor below us.
- The lights up the side of Dusseldorf Tower are a clock.
- Toby spent most of the weekend playing with a Rubik's Revolution.
- Toby's remarkably consistent average in the second round of 3x3 speedsolve was deliberate.
- The only reason I placed third in the Rubik's Revolution contest was that I failed to make 3x3 BLD finals and had nothing better to do for the rest of the day.
- Hauptbahnhof is not pronounced "Hoppenhof", "Hufflepuff" or "Hop and hop"
- A lady saw Jeremy playing with a 2x2 at the train station and asked him about it. When Jeremy responded "Sorry, I don't speak German" she switched abruptly to perfect English and said "Where did you get that?"
- Traffic lights that turn red+yellow just before they turn green are a great idea. Why are they only in Germany?
- Laetitia's hairstyle changes by adding one ponytail every day. It resets at the beginning of each week.
- Ryousuke Mondo was selling a ton of cubes for only 3 euro each. No more massive multi-BLD attempts for him.
- Stefan and Tyson are good at yes/no team BLD
- Nihongo de shitteiruno wa kore dake desu.
- Actually that's a lie, I know some other random Japanese phrases as well.
- Takao's family is super cute.
- Mikan has some serious bling on her cubes.
- Chris Dzoan is way too obsessed with learning inappropriate phrases in different languages. As well as teaching David Calvo Vivas the same in English.
- The bus on the way back to the hostel on the last day was too crowded. I ended up sitting on someone's lap.
- Frank Severinsen may be Andy Bridger's long lost twin.
- Mats Valk showed me and Jeremy a slightly awkward but pretty good E perm. We practiced it all day on Monday on our way to Berlin.
- Congratulations Chris Hardwick for overtaking me in the BLD rankings. I guess I have to step things up a notch.
- I found a heart shaped rock in the Rhine river while skipping stones with Jeremy and David Gomes and brought it home with me.
- The maximum speed of our rental car on the autobahn was only 183 km/hr.

 

[cmhardw]

Did you know...

- Congratulations Chris Hardwick for overtaking me in the BLD rankings. I guess I have to step things up a notch.

Did you know...
- That Chris only beat Shelley's ranking time by 0.21 second?
- That our rankings each year have always been super close, often with a difference of only a couple seconds?
- That in 2005 we're ranked 6th and 7th place, but that Shelley creamed my time by over a minute?

Shelley I've also noticed this friendly 3x3 BLD competition we have going. There are still other competitions this year, not sure if you're attending any, but I can definitely see you beating your time again! We'll see what happens at the end of this year!

Chris