Older cubers discussions

@earth2dan - Thank you sir. I will be doing some 6x6 this afternoon filmed to see if I can get myself my first sub 3:30 solve, fingers crossed! Also congratulations on the PB single :D

@pglewis - Congratulations on the sub 30, great milestone to get under your belt :)

@muchacho - Those are the exact two Square-1 cube shape guides I am going from :)

@kbrune - I use Twisty Timer

@pipkiksass - Many moons ago indeed, it has taken a long, LONG time to go from sub 20 to sub 15.5 :) As for which X-Man Galaxy Megaminx I like the sculptured but if you go for the "Luxurious Suit" you will get one puzzles but all the different tile sets for plane, concave etc etc. As for 5x5 and 6x6 you cannot go far wrong with Qiyi for both. The Qiyi 5x5 has not quite replaced my Yuxin as main but it is very close. The Qiyi 6x6 is just epic.


I just wanted to say a huge, HUGE thanks to my fellow cubing brethren on here. Your support and words of encouragement over the course of the last couple of difficult weeks has been massively appreciated and very moving and has genuinely helped. Most of the emotional side has gone and I just want to get this redundancy signed off so I can get on with the rest of my life now :D
 
Nice solving @Selkie. Just looking at your approach to solving here and it seems to generally be the same approach to mine other than your much faster recognition and TPS.

Two things I think we do differently, not that I think what I do is any better:
1. When I'm commutating (is that a word?) the L2C, I always position the cubie so that it is one of the 4 closest to the top left corner. This just helps me know quickly how to resolve the case. Admittedly repositioning this results in some wasted moves.
2. You seem to rotate the orientation when doing the L4E, so you're solving in the M layer rather than the E layer. Tried this a few times in the past, but it threw me off and I messed up some earlier work on the Centres.

I got 2 PB singles at 6x6 today, plus PB Ao5 and Ao12:

5:59.81
5:58.95
5:35.20
5:15.98
5:39.88
5:08.52 - PB single
6:01.09
6:10.60
5:04.64 - PB single
5:10.29 - PB Ao5 for this and previous 4 solves (5:26.63)
5:19.32
5:57.85 - PB Ao12 (5:36.69)

My PB is now <5 seconds off the UK Average Cut for 6x6, so I'm actually closer to the cut for 6x6 than I am with 5x5! All times here are below my comp PB for 6x6 too. Fingers crossed for Birmingham, for which I ought to do a bit of 7x7 practice too.
 
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@Shaky Hands - That is some great improvement Andy. You really are making great progress on 4x4, 5x5 and 6x6 and all getting so close to average cut. When you think my official mean for 6x6 is 5:17.00 and that was at Exeter you can see how quickly progress can be made. Going to keep at 6x6 as it would be great to get sub 4:00 mean at Birmingham next month.

@mafergut - Very nice single and -10 seonds! Thats smashed :)
 
It's Personal Best Central up in here! I fear omitting one or two individually so congrats all around.

@pipkiksass: I actually just went through that vid again about a week and a half ago, mostly watching his F2L choices. I was happily surprised that I would have handled the individual pairs in the first three solves the exact same way (doubtful I'm wise enough to choose the order he solved them, though).
 
pglewis said:
I was happily surprised that I would have handled the individual pairs in the first three solves the exact same way (doubtful I'm wise enough to choose the order he solved them, though).
Click to expand...

^^THIS, so totally, massively this! With me, after F2L 1 I pick the first thing I see. Feliks knows where at least 2 of the remaining pairs are before he finishes #1, and can cherry pick the one which gives him the best case for 3 and then 4.

Simultaneously both depressing and inspiring!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
pglewis said:
Back to comp again on Jan 7th. No way I'll be near 5x5 cutoff by then but maybe I should pick up and relearn Pyraminx in the interim to have a third event.
Click to expand...
Pyraminx and Skewb can both be learned in no time. :)

@Selkie, I think I have failed in ever posting some encouragement on your situation. I'm sorry for that, I'm glad the package is working out so nice for you! I'm a bit jealous. :) I lost a job many years ago, I won't compare that to you because at the time I was young, single, and living with my parents after college. Anyway, I'm sure you'll rock the job hunt! Are you considering taking a cube for interviews? If you're keen to move to Texas let me know, I'd try my best to find you a spot in software for the railroad. :)

I must admit for the first time since July 2015 I'm kind of transitioning to skimming the thread now. I feel a bit guilty haha. I'm not sure what caused the change, maybe being busy over the holiday last week and just feeling like it would be less stress if I did not worry about keeping up as much. Anyway, I'm still around and still practicing, just wanted to mention that. :)
 
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@pglewis - Yup glancing at the timer is a horrible habit. It is not like the clock needs look ahead :D More for 6x6 I am interested in splits. Times for centres, F8E pairing, L4E Pairing and 3x3 stage but every time I glance up I do lose time granted.

@Jason Green - Do not worry mate, it is old news now haha. Sub 20 is a huge milestone and takes a lot of effort o achieve. I do not know many solvers who have not eased up a bit after attaining it, especially us older solvers. Don't feel guilty that cubing has gone from taking most of your spare time to acceptable levels of spare time :)

@teacher77 - So many great milestones in recent days. Nice way to skip not only the 19's but the high 18s too. Congratulations.
 
OK, so I know I said no timed solves this week, but I was looking back at my member intro thread, out of curiosity, and I posted an Ao5 video at the time, a 25.45 Ao5 (13th April 2013):


I then went to my YouTube account (unused in a LONG time), and found a 17.62 Ao5 from 12 months later (21st April 2014)


Yes, the first solve is a +2, but it's out of the Ao5 anyway as slowest solve. Anyway, I thought I'd film a few solves today and see how things have come on. I only did 5 solves, but 18.22 for first 5 solves of the day is respectable for me. I'm very confident I could get a sub-18 Ao5 on camera.

Also, any tips on raising the camera angle would be appreciated. This is basically a video of my hand, with a few glipses of cube. As a snapshot of how I'm getting on, the only sup-20 (solve 3 - 20.38 R' B R2 D L B L2 B2 R' B F2 U B2 U L2 U2 F2 U' L2 B2) was a TOTAL fail at cross>F2L stage, and 2-look OLL.


Generated By csTimer on 2016-11-29
solves/total: 5/5

single
best: 16.83
worst: 20.38

mean of 3
current: 18.51 (σ = 1.63)
best: 18.51 (σ = 1.63)

avg of 5
current: 17.96 (σ = 0.69)
best: 17.96 (σ = 0.69)

Average: 17.96 (σ = 0.69)
Mean: 18.22

Time List:
1. 16.83 D F2 U' R2 B' D' F B' D F2 L2 F2 U2 R' U2 F2 R B2 D2 L'
2. 18.73 F L2 U B2 D2 B2 L2 B2 D B2 R2 U R' U' F' R' U' L2 R2 F' D
3. 20.38 R' B R2 D L B L2 B2 R' B F2 U B2 U L2 U2 F2 U' L2 B2
4. 17.72 B2 D F2 D B2 D R2 U' B2 F R2 U' B L2 F' R U B' D
5. 17.42 L U' R U2 R2 F' B' R' B U2 R2 L2 D' B2 R2 U B2 U' B2 R'

Anyway, back to slow-turning, CN practice, and learning OLLs...
 
@pipkiksass - Nice comparison and how well you have come on. I have to confess I have had a look on my YouTube and found a 26.22 Ao12 on there :D As for camera angle. I use a budget tripod raised to about 5' tall, you can get them from Amazon for less than £20. That will give the elevation to get above your hands.
 
Selkie said:
@pglewis - Yup glancing at the timer is a horrible habit. It is not like the clock needs look ahead :D More for 6x6 I am interested in splits. Times for centres, F8E pairing, L4E Pairing and 3x3 stage but every time I glance up I do lose time granted.
Click to expand...

That's why I have cstimer just display "solve" :). I also configure my phone timer to just display seconds during the solve. Humans see motion out of the corner of our eyes, and it naturally attracts us. When I get a real stackmat timer, I'm hoping because it is down low, I won't pay attention, or I'll be better at focusing.
 
New 2H PB: 50.50.

All but N(a/b) of PLL learned, so pretty much full PLL. Recognition is still slow, the G(a/b/c/d) perms are a bit slow, still, in that I'm thinking them through more than I'd like. I need to more slow turning solves, and working on piece tracking during eoline, memorizing eoline, etc.

My biggest pauses are during EOLine, and EOLine -> F2L, those need to get cleaned up. I have 1 more ZZFL piece to get down... that will slow me if I work on it constantly... Then speed me once I add it.

Interestingly, my OH times are only about 10s off my 2H. So I suspect, any practice will help at this point.

I'm also interested in how magnets will impact some of my favorite types of cubes. So I got some. Yes, I know hardware isn't handing me back, but, playing with hardware is fun. :)
 
phreaker said:
When I get a real stackmat timer, I'm hoping because it is down low, I won't pay attention, or I'll be better at focusing.
Click to expand...

I got myself a stackmat timer, but ended up doing my solves on a computer timer 99% of the time. I just find it easier to use a timer that will generate scrambles in the same place.
 
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