Feb, 2022
I've had the joy of teaching some students how to solve a 3x3x3 cube and a 2x2x2 cube. I decided after Cambria masters the 2x2x2 I want to teach her how to solve it with her eyes closed. So I figured I better practice! Sometimes I get it, sometimes I don't. Sometimes I just have trouble with twisted corners at the end. Need more practice.
Nov, 2020
2x2x2. In October 2020 I decided to start doing 2x2x2 BLD solves, and to keep it up until I got fairly good at it again. It took a while to get back into the swing of things, but now I no longer remember how, but I've also developed some new strategies. Basically if there are not two solved ones on the scramble I put B in place and see where A needs to go. Then go from there. But if A is already solved I might use B as the one to send out, or C, or D even. Or if I see there are two that need to swap I will just move them both to the AB spots and swap them. Things like that. It is fun.
August 31, 2018
2x2x2. My oh my, it has been a long time. It was a fairly easy one. C and D were already solved.
YW BSLB
I know that sometimes it is more difficult, but it was nice to have a successful solve.
2x2x2. My oh my, it has been a long time. It was a fairly easy one. C and D were already solved.
YW BSLB
I know that sometimes it is more difficult, but it was nice to have a successful solve.
I did my first BLD solve in over a month. It was on a 2x2x2. Went well. I wonder how many tries it would take me to do a 3x3x3 BLD after all this time off.
Oct 6, 2017
Who would think I would be up to learning a new algorithm at 64, after going for years determined not to learn any new ones that I didn't make up myself. But I've been having fun with the 2x2x2 cube. And in the last couple days I figured out that I don't have to use the same setup moves as I do with the 3x3x3 since there are no edges to worry about. Actually it happened as I was doing all the setup moves on the 2nd and 3rd. But the last couple days I've actually verified it and written down the moves. Worst case scenario is 3 twists to do the setup. And 14 of the 21 spots can be set up with 1 or 2 twists. So then I started wondering if there was another swapper algorithm on the PLL page that I could learn. Well, I've looked through a lot of them and the first one with promise is an R Perm. R' U2 R U2 R' F (R U R' U') R' F' R2' U'
The obvious advantage over the F Perm is that it only uses R U and F. The bad thing about it is that I can't use it for 3x3x3 unless I totally rethink the process, because of the edges it swaps. It swaps Front and Right, instead of Left and Right.
The modified Y Perm is the basis of the Old Pochmann method.
R U' R' U' R U R' F' R U R' U' R' F R
The advantage of this over the R Perm is no 2s, so even though there is one more step there are two less 90 degree twists. It swaps A with 2. The R could be used with what I already figured out since it does A and B. Decisions decisions!
Oct 3, 2017
A milestone in solving with my eyes closed! I used the online scrambler to generate two scrambles. Put one on one 2x2x2 and the other on another 2x2x2. I made a plan for each one. Learned them. Closed my eyes. Solved one. Set it down. Picked up the other. Solved it. Then opened my eyes. Yes!!! It is my first multi-blind solve! Felt good.
Oct 2, 2017
Yesterday we went to a church picnic. I took a 2x2x2. At one point I got to share with Joe Sloan that it didn't take a genius to solve a cube blindfolded. I demonstrated by solving 3 corners of the 2x2x2 with my eyes closed. Today while I was watching a movie I solved 2 2x2x2 cubes start to finish while watching the movie and never once looked at the cube once I started. But then the third one ended up with 2 twisted corners. The 4th was actually done with my eyes closed after the movie. It ended up only half solved. Argh.
Scrambled them again. This time I got 3 of the 4 solved. The one that wasn't solved had 2 corners swapped. ???
What I like about doing BLD with the 2x2x2 is that the memory work is so much simpler. Only 7 or so to learn instead of 17 or so.
Scrambled them again. This time I got all 4. Oh no. You know when I say I got all 4 that means looking at them one at a time. You know what the next thing I'm going to want to try is now? Studying two scrambled 2x2x2 cubes, closing my eyes, and solving them both before opening my eyes. But not tonight.
Sept 30, 2017
First try fail. 3 edges were out of place. Didn't know why but on the second try I think I may have figured it out. I think I did the wrong setup for placing D using M2, but I don't really see how it ended up like it did if that was all I did. Seems like it should have been messed up even more. I guess not, but I frankly do not care at this point. Anyway, I got it on the second try.
F' U' B' U L' U' B U' L B D' R' F2 U R' U' B' L' F' U
1 Little RO JUmped CoDY Flip 4
Sure Fire Way Be Jailed
AL A
The next scramble I tried ended in a sort of humorous fail. I started with the corners and got them. Then my phone gave me a You Got Mail sound so I put the cube behind my back, checked my phone, then closed my eyes and proceeded to solve the edges with the white face on the front and blue on top instead of blue on front and yellow up. Needless to say that did not end in a solved cube. I'm not even going to mess with that scramble anymore.
The next scramble—you know how some sequences are quick and easy to memorize, and others are a bear? This one was a bear. During the solve, I thought I was finished with the edges, and couldn't remember the corners for anything. Finally I gave up trying and looked at it. 3 of the edges were wrong too. I not going to stick with that miserable scramble. Not tonight. And I haven't recorded it anywhere, so not ever!
How many times can I mess up in one day? This time I was nearly perfect. But I forgot to do 4J on the corners, so when I opened my eyes I was a corner 3-cycle short of solved. I haven't even thought about using commutators in a long time. I was able to do a lot of this solve with M2 which was nice.
Sept 29, 2017
I am ticked. First try was a fail but oh so close. I just forgot to flip two edges. Second try was a disaster. Third try was exactly the same result as the second.
L' D' R U' B U2 L' B U' R' D' L2 B2 L2 F L' D2 R B D' B2 R' D2 L2 B
RUn HIP\ K\iD FBi JiG
Fred Has A1 UnderCover SEnses
On the 4th try I kept checking along the way and still messed up! I took a break. Had dinner, watched a movie, took turns in Matching and Yahtzee. Finally I tried again. This time I only used the F Perm for the whole thing and got it.
Sept 28, 2017
First try—Got it! Last night I had an idea. Use the vowels strategically to make words to shorten the memory work. Even put things in wrong on purpose then flip or twist them at the end if it makes the memory work easier. The scramble today started with one edge and one corner solved, one corner twisted, and two edges flipped. I purposely put J at S to spell YES, and then flipped it at the end with 4, which needed flipped. Then the corner sequence was K I G C U D which I learned as KIm the Goat chews her CUD. Much better than Kevin Ingests Grapes, and Carl Understands Donuts. Or agonizing over making something up with each of those letters as the initial letter of a word.
B' U' F L' U F L2 U2 F' R2 D F R D R2 B U R F L2 D L' U B L'
Care 2 Cry? YES\ A Very Fine Plan
Flip 1 3 Flip 4 J
KIm the Goat chews her CUD.
Twist A and 3 to the back.
Sept 27, 2017
First try—Fail! But not by much. This time it was because I went to K when I should have gone to S so two corners ended up twisted. Second time through all was good. Here it is.
D' B U F D' F' L D2 R U L D2 R' U B' D2 B D B U' B L B L' U'
Kentucky Fried Onions-x
R Cooked 2-x
Perfection So Eat
Hurry Up Yum!
O U 1 ED
S H G
I'd like to do another scramble today and see if I can get it on the first try.
First try—Fail! I know what I did wrong on the corners but not on the edges that are not right.
D B U' F' D2 R2 U2 B R F' D B' D' F D B R' F2 L' F' U F2 U B D2
PLO2 Please Love On 2
JK-x Jasper Kiddos
C4C-x V Care 4 Children Viciously
EAV Encourage And Vectorize
1 I
4 A P S 1
O to front
I do not even want to try again on this scramble. I just want to move on to another one. In a way I like my system of making up sentences but lately it has become quite bothersome and I want to come up with something better. I want something less creative and more automatic.
Well, I finally got a solve on the first try today. I doubt that I will come up with a new system. Whenever I think about it it is just overwhelming. But I would like to re-use the same things more, so maybe I should make a list.
Sept 25, 2017
First try—Fail! By the time I got around to trying it again I had forgotten the sentences, so made new ones. Worked better for me. Got it on the second try.
Sept 24, 2017
Terrible time today. Didn't get it until my third try. I want another scramble!
Did another scramble and got it first try.
Sept 23, 2017
We went to Bishop's Pumpkin Farm today. Met Lani and Lora and Summer and Zoey and Mason there. On the way there I solved the cube on my first try. I didn't close my eyes because I didn't want to miss out on the trip, but I never looked at the cube. I even survived a detour on the way that could have been a bit unsettling but it wasn't really.
Sept 22, 2017
Had to work a couple days this week so didn't get a solve in each day. The scramble I put on it was just me mixing up the cube. So when I tried it today and failed there was no way to figure it out or try again. Oh well. Move on.
Moved on. Put a scramble on a couple cubes but did not record it. I learned the following:
C GOF HAJ 1ER1
POKE 1 4 IL
Flip PY
When I opened my eyes the two corners at O and K were twisted. Huh???
Got it right the second time. Solved it a bit differently. I used the F Perm for all the corners the second time. I had tried D2 for P and O the first time setting them up using F somehow. It seems to me it should have worked but something went wrong.
Sept 19, 2017
Messed up. 5 corners are messed. 4 edges are messed. Sheesh. And once again I did not record the scramble. But let's see if I can now recall the order using the second cube I put the scramble on.
Corners: W G F A J 1
Edges:
Each Christian Glimpsed Reality
1 Asked Valerie Young Just Look Out How
I'm not seeing what I did wrong. Sometimes I've got it and can get it first time day after day, but other times I go for days messing up.
Well, I got it right on my second try. I used the Z Cube with black stickers on the first try and the other Z Cube on the second, not that it matters at all which cube I use.
Tried another scramble. Messed up. 4 edges and 4 corners out of place. I honestly did not feel confident at all during the solve. Maybe I should take a few days off. Maybe I should try a new scramble. Or try this one again.
I'm going back to the beginning. Making up mainly food sentences with familiar names and putting it in the Sheet.
Got it. Here is what I did.
R2 U' R D F U F R2 B' U B U2 F' L' B' U R U F L'
Yolanda Visits 4 Salmon Eating Oranges
Alex Ingests 1 Ricebowl 1
1 (Juan) Ate Giant Fruity Creme Puffs
David Has 2 Wait
Sept 18, 2017
Messed up. The first time I didn't take into account one of the corners. It was in place but twisted and I just overlooked it. So at the end there were two twisted corners. The solve was no problem the second time through.
Sept 17, 2017
Messed up. I ended up one or two corner swaps short. It is weird. Then I tried to go through the edges on the other cube with the same scramble but somehow messed them up. Then I looked up the scramble so I could try to figure it all out but evidently I did not copy the scramble into my Sheet and it is gone from the scrambler page as well. So I guess I just start fresh with a new scramble. :(
So I started fresh, made sentences for the edges. Learned the corner letters. Went for it. And got it. But then I realized how much easier it was than the other one I tried today. Not because pieces were already solved. They weren't. But because there were not multiple cycles on the corners. The last corner was the green white red one. I think I messed up the first one today because I mishandled a cycle.
I used the Rubik's Cube both times. I like it for studying the sequence. Nice bright colors. So even though I like the feel of the Z cubes, I didn't use them.
Sept 16, 2017
Used the Zanchi. Again I made sentences for edges then corners, then solved the corners first. No D2 but lots of M2.
Sept 15, 2017
Used the Z Colorful today. Nothing extraordinary about the solve. I learn the edges, then the corners. Started with the corners since I didn't have much of a sentence for them. Then worked through the edges sentences. I did all the corners with the F Perm. It is easier than having to switch to D2. But most of the edges were done with M2.
Sept 14, 2017
Today was my 4th day in a row to solve with my eyes closed on the first try. Used the Rubik's Cube today.
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