Older cubers discussions

[SpartanSailor]

Wow! Sitting in Starbucks (power outage and my wife wanted to get out of the dark) and decided to do some “distracted” blind practice. Botched the first attempt, but shocked myself and nailed the 2nd attempt! Didn’t have my earmuffs or blindfold, just sitting here with my eyes shut... pretty awesome when I get a good memo and it all comes together.

Didn’t time myself, but it was probably about average to longer for me, so maybe 10 mins or so? Anyway, I bet those that saw it happen were shocked... lol... I was

Edit: did it again! That’s 2 consecutive successes... and at the coffee shop! I heard a guy stop as he was walking by. I could “feel” him watching me. Needed to really focus at that point (I was into execution at that point). Block him out and kept going!! That one was definitely a pretty fast one for me. Again untimed, but feeling good.

I’m glad I took a cue from others here to go practice where there exists different distractions. I’m very hopeful for Charleston at the end of the month.

 

[h2f]

I'd argue that's being lazy, but to each their own haha

It's a kind of argument to courage people to learn 3bld. Many of them - including me few years ago - think they have to learn tons of algs to be fast, which is not true. And on the other hand - I know a kid who for 4 months keeps talking of learning 3style skipping begginers method. He argues, he need something really good. But the thing is - beginners method is really good. And guess what - he didnt even start 3bld or solves 3bld in around 10 minutes.

 

[Logiqx]

Thanks! Then my 3x3 Ao100 PB is 17.481, and 26.056 for OH.

In the interests of a bit of friendly CFOP vs Roux for OH, I pulled off a 25.79 Ao100 yesterday. It might have been closer to the 25.47 Ao50 had I not started rushing solves prior to a restaurant booking! You're still way ahead on Ao5 and Ao12 but we seem pretty close on the big averages.

In other news, I received a Wuxia M this Friday and it feels great. After a 2 month break from 2x2, I got a 4.95 Ao100 after warm-up. Predicting OLL during inspection (currently <50% of solves) helps a lot so I need to practice it. Sub-4 solves are so much easier when I only have to recognise PBL during the solve. I can sometimes predict PBL during inspection but it's quite rare within 15 seconds.

 

[Jason Green]

Had a great competition yesterday! Kids had a party after so we were out late and I didn't take time to post. Instead of detailing the day, I want to make a highlights video with voice over talking about it. Here are my results. PB 3x3 average was definitely a surprise!

http://m.cubecomps.com/competitions/2893/competitors/1

 

[pglewis]

Not a PB Ao12 due to some mistake solves but today marks the first time I've had a counting sub-20 in an Ao12 with a pair of 19s. Of course, I also had a :33 where I initially solved the cross on the wrong side :smacks forehead:

 

[pglewis]

Hat tip to @Jason Green on the new official average and @SpartanSailor on the solid distraction session.

Also, @JanW is quietly becoming a real 3x3 threat. I've been vaguely trying to chase you for a year and a half here, could be a lot more people joining me soon.

 

[phreaker]

It's not like that in my experience. You must be fast but execution of algs must be brainless. This means two things:
- if you use 3style algs one needs to practice them a lot till they become nautaral and brainless;
- if you use OP or M2/OP one needs to practice them a lot but not as many times as in the case of 3style. It is around 50 algs vs. almost 800 algs in 3style. With beginners method one can solve 3bld in 1 minute and less.

50 algs?

What 50? I memorize ~6 algs? And the rest are all easy to derive on the fly in M2/OP. (1 in OP, ~5 in M2, needed memorization work.)

I wonder what the real count for someone like me would be in 3style corners. It is supposed to compare to learning F2L, not ZBLL, from all accounts.

 

[phreaker]

My recent progress in BLD:

M2/OP, execution is becoming rock solid finally. I'm getting faster and more automatic. To the point where I think "Did I remember to do move X, in that sequence..." because the sequence is that automatic. the "N" target in M2 caused that one a few times now. I/S are so solid I don't worry about them in memo now. (The two long M2 targets.)

Memo: Starting to push on it a bit. All audio, no visual components, using letter pairs. Mainly working on cutting down the need for re-reviews of memo at this point, and trusting it more. Pain points are when I hit combos I haven't used yet. Or that are just hard to come up with things for. Like "IJ". (I have a sound for that but... I have no idea what I'd type for it.)

No timings yet... Still working on feeling like I have control of all of it without a clock, before I add the pressure of the clock.

The BLD is having good effects on my F2L for OH... but I need to practice more to keep PLL in muscle memory.

 

[mark49152]

My bag just got flagged at airport security and they pulled out my cube. "Rubik's cube? WHY?! It's the most annoying thing ever invented!"

 

[newtonbase]

My recent progress in BLD:

M2/OP, execution is becoming rock solid finally. I'm getting faster and more automatic. To the point where I think "Did I remember to do move X, in that sequence..." because the sequence is that automatic. the "N" target in M2 caused that one a few times now. I/S are so solid I don't worry about them in memo now. (The two long M2 targets.)

Memo: Starting to push on it a bit. All audio, no visual components, using letter pairs. Mainly working on cutting down the need for re-reviews of memo at this point, and trusting it more. Pain points are when I hit combos I haven't used yet. Or that are just hard to come up with things for. Like "IJ". (I have a sound for that but... I have no idea what I'd type for it.)

No timings yet... Still working on feeling like I have control of all of it without a clock, before I add the pressure of the clock.

The BLD is having good effects on my F2L for OH... but I need to practice more to keep PLL in muscle memory.

I'm glad it's going well for you. Have you looked at any advanced M2 stuff yet. It's not urgent that you do but there's some easy ways to cut moves on some of the trickier targets including I and S. 4BLD wings has got me looking at it (and edge comms) more deeply.

 

[newtonbase]

My bag just got flagged at airport security and they pulled out my cube. "Rubik's cube? WHY?! It's the most annoying thing ever invented!"

Did they get a demo?

I've never had any issue on a flight.

 

[phreaker]

I'm glad it's going well for you. Have you looked at any advanced M2 stuff yet. It's not urgent that you do but there's some easy ways to cut moves on some of the trickier targets including I and S. 4BLD wings has got me looking at it (and edge comms) more deeply.

I've read it. For now I'm more working on memo, and getting the basics of commutators started in my head. It takes time, so I figure start now a little bit.. and let it soak.

 

[newtonbase]

I've read it. For now I'm more working on memo, and getting the basics of commutators started in my head. It takes time, so I figure start now a little bit.. and let it soak.

It makes sense to get everything solid and feel confident in what you are doing first. One of the things I like about advanced M2 is that you can add a little bit at a time and @mark49152 's thread lists them in a nice order.

 

[JanW]

Thanks @pglewis, though I'm not sure threat to whom?

Overall I am very happy with progress lately. Today I smashed my old pb Ao12 by 0.5 seconds (now 16.24), with five sub-15s within 12 solves! Two of them even sub-14. Unfortunately that is still not the new normal. Far from it. Running Ao12 was soon up above 19. I have these brief moments when I'm in the zone and every solve is so easy, then I drop out and all solves are suddenly 2-3 seconds slower. It's really weird how one moment even the solves that feel slow and clumsy end up at 17.xx, but not long afterwards the solves that feel fluent and fast end up at 18.xx while the rest are much slower.

3bld is not going as well, right now I'm in a horrible DNF streak. Almost 20 DNFs in a row. A lot of them were off by only one mistake, so there is still hope...

 

[mark49152]

Did they get a demo?

No she looked genuinely horrified. I think she'd rather have arrested me than seen a demo.

 

[SpartanSailor]

My bag just got flagged at airport security and they pulled out my cube. "Rubik's cube? WHY?! It's the most annoying thing ever invented!"

They’ve flagged my bag before too!! I had 3 or 4 different size/style cubes to play with and they pulled them all out as if I was sneaking something illegal through! Hahahaha. When they realised what they were, they asked if I could solve it.

 

[SpartanSailor]

Thanks @pglewis, though I'm not sure threat to whom?

Overall I am very happy with progress lately. Today I smashed my old pb Ao12 by 0.5 seconds (now 16.24), with five sub-15s within 12 solves! Two of them even sub-14. Unfortunately that is still not the new normal. Far from it. Running Ao12 was soon up above 19. I have these brief moments when I'm in the zone and every solve is so easy, then I drop out and all solves are suddenly 2-3 seconds slower. It's really weird how one moment even the solves that feel slow and clumsy end up at 17.xx, but not long afterwards the solves that feel fluent and fast end up at 18.xx while the rest are much slower.

3bld is not going as well, right now I'm in a horrible DNF streak. Almost 20 DNFs in a row. A lot of them were off by only one mistake, so there is still hope...

You are certainly faster than I am, but I have experienced a similar feeling of hitting a hot streak then next thing you know... cold. I just take it while I can and enjoy it. I’ve noticed that my times may still fluctuate quite a bit, but I’m hitting 20s and even sub-20s more often than ever before. There are definitely times when I can tell my look ahead is on... and then other times when it’s not.

 

[pglewis]

I have these brief moments when I'm in the zone and every solve is so easy, then I drop out and all solves are suddenly 2-3 seconds slower. It's really weird how one moment even the solves that feel slow and clumsy end up at 17.xx, but not long afterwards the solves that feel fluent and fast end up at 18.xx while the rest are much slower.

I have experienced a similar feeling of hitting a hot streak then next thing you know... cold.

I just take it as reassurance that I've yet to find my first really stubborn plateau, those temporary peaks usually signify where I'm headed soon-ish. I got two more :19s in some untracked practice later... that's four of 'em in a couple light practice sessions when I hadn't seen two in the same day until this past week. At the moment, a :22 might prompt a fist-pump or a shrug and yawn depending on whether I'm floundering or in a groove.

So many full-step 19s all of a sudden though... yeah, I'm looking at you, single PB.

 

[h2f]

Had a great competition yesterday! Kids had a party after so we were out late and I didn't take time to post. Instead of detailing the day, I want to make a highlights video with voice over talking about it. Here are my results. PB 3x3 average was definitely a surprise!

http://m.cubecomps.com/competitions/2893/competitors/1

Great!

50 algs?

What 50? I memorize ~6 algs? And the rest are all easy to derive on the fly in M2/OP. (1 in OP, ~5 in M2, needed memorization work.)

Yes. I count an alg for a single target made of seutp+Y/Jperm+undo setup as a single alg. This leads to 21 algs for corners, and 22 for edges + algs for flips (few) + parity. This makes around 50 algs.

 

[pglewis]

Yes. I count an alg for a single target made of seutp+Y/Jperm+undo setup as a single alg. This leads to 21 algs for corners, and 22 for edges + algs for flips (few) + parity. This makes around 50 algs.

I can see that logic but I think it's a little bit misleading. Since OP corner setup/restore are all max 2 HTM I consider OP corners to be "1 alg". Basic M2 I consider as 5 algs (I, S, C, W, Q) and everything else is intuitive. Setups/restore took much less time to get used to for me than what I'd typically call an alg (and improved my intuitive sense for the cube a lot).