Doctor Who

I have become addicted to this show. The old episodes aren't that great but they are very original. The new ones are incredible. The latest episode has me wanting the week to skip forward just so I can see the second part. It's been on my mind all day so I felt that I had to let people know.

Update

It's been a while and I haven't cubed much recently. Baseball season has become rather stressful and standardized tests are fast approaching. I also had my appendix removed on Saturday. Basically, I'm in pain. I did find that ZBLL practice can slow your F2L time down by a few seconds. I think I'll have to ignore those losses until I've completed my goal.

Update

I've gotten through 2 complete ZBLL sets to date and have started on my 3rd. I love the PLL skip but, at least right now, COLL + EPLL wins out because of recognition and habit. Still, if I get a case I should know, I'll solve with a ZBLL.

Set a PB average of 100 2 days ago: 22.57. Pretty solid. This might be due to my new hybrid: C4Y hardware, C4Y cubies, and CII centers. So fast and cuts corners pretty well. The locks are annoying and it pops a little more than I would like, but once I got used to it, nothing could stop me. My last 25 solves dropped me from .40 seconds, from 22.97 to 22.57. Good stuff.

Update

Well, it's been a while since I've picked up a cube. I don't think I'll have time until next Monday. Baseball games really take their toll when combined with school. Practice I can deal with, but games are just too long. I'm also feeling pressure from my classes. Looks like I'm gonna have to step up my game...

I have 2 full sets of ZBLL down pat. I think I notice a difference between myself and Chris Tran. I am a perfectionist. I must have everything ingrained in memory and fully executable. Slow recognition is unacceptable. Slow execution is unacceptable. But this mentality is slowing my progress. While in the long run, I may be in a better position, it eats into my practice time and prevents me from improving other parts of my solve. I did an average of 12-ish (wasn't really keeping track) and found my times were back up to 25 seconds after only 1 week of not doing full solves.

Baseball is going well. Threw a complete game opening day against Century in a 5-4 win. Only 2 of the runs were earned, and 1 of the earned runs came after an unearned run scored, so it should have been a 5-1 game. Even with these mistakes, I only threw 88 pitches. 'Atta babe!

A VHF2L document should be up in under a month.

Update

Just wanting to show off: best average of 12 ever (and that includes best of 12 inside best of 100): 21.44. Wow I was happy. And only one skip. The reason: C-II.

That cube is fucking amazing. When I first got it, it seemed overshadowed by my type F-Is and F-IIs and especially my Cube4You. But after some random fiddling, adjusting the tension, and, honestly, not using it, it has turned into a god cube. The corner cutting is incredible. It cuts at about 35 degrees like my mom cuts fabric for her quilts. At more than that, it just stops or pops, but before that it is dreamy. It can even reverse corner cut at about 1.5mm in. It can cut corners on M slices. M SLICE CORNER CUTTING!!! Wow! That is all I will say.

The C-II's speed isn't great to be quite honest, but it is incredibly consistent and has a feel that I love. You can feel every piece sliding around but you know it makes little difference on the cube. Smooth plastic but a rough feel. I think this also makes it a quieter cube, which my parents greatly enjoy.

The one thing I don't appreciate on the C-II: pops. This cube does not like to stay together very long. Compared to my other cubes it sucks, but it doesn't really pop that much. But when it pops it explodes. It wipes out the dinosaurs. And it always feels like it could pop any second, but then it doesn't. This feeling was really why I didn't make this my main cube a long time ago. Now I can't get enough of it (my tiled C4Y is still my school cube, though). I'll have to get some more, maybe in different colors. But right now C4Y is out...

The best part about this cube? My Jig-a-Loo is on loan. This cube has not yet been lubed.

Update

I've been doing more solving on the 3x3x3 recently. My averages of 100 are still struggling to get under 25, as those last 15 solves still leave something to be desired. Baseball just started up, and so my solving will go down. But with the bus time comes the motivation to learn more algs. Specifically, ZBLL algs. I memorized 1 set of H on just one bus trip. Granted, it was an easy set, but at that rate I'll have a set done every week at least. Remembering the algs isn't actually the problem but rather what case they go with. So, as of right now, I know 21 PLLs + 40 COLLs + 11 H ZBLLs. 72/501 = is roughly 14%. I'm using the last version of the ZBLL document before version 2.00, which means I only have one alg written down. I don't wanna have to print a new 40 pages, so I think I'll just stick with my originals. I've modified the VHF2L document but haven't made it readable. I've given up on my OLL sheet. I don't think I'll change the COLL sheet. I learned it with letter recognition, and so can you.

Anyway, I'll check in around a week from now. Cheers!

Update

It's been quite a while. I've been cubing a fair bit here, but I just don't have the time to do anything serious. I know one set of ZBLL (still missing 2 COLLs from my memory bank, however) and am trying to learn more. I'm just really, really tired. Baseball has kicked in, AP classes are taking their toll, and I'm looking into colleges.

I'm actually enjoying the pressure. I got a 13.86 solve yesterday. Almost shit my pants. It was a really strange scramble. I got an OLL skip (thank you, VHF2L), but nothing else went by quickly. When I hit the timer I thought it would be sub-20 but way above 15.

Scramble (cross on D?): U B L2 B' U2 L B' D' L' U' B U2 R' L2 D L2 B L B' L F' U2 L' B' R2

I'll see what you guys make of it. I was horribly inefficient with my cross and first F2L pair, but that set up a triple multislot. Unfortunately, I cannot recreate it, mostly because of that cross.

I'm loving my C4Y DIY. With the tension just a little too tight for it to pop, it cuts corners like my guinea pig breaks wind - frequently, easily, and with pride. I love you Kaki!