Who Gives Kudos:

	Fast Mikie FastMikie michael McCafferty	That's HUGE!! I can't even memorize where I left my keys. Congrats, big time!   Posted by Fast Mikie on Wednesday, September 03, 2008 - 11:47 PM [Reply to this]

	8 ball corner pocket Robert Johnson	Did another 3x3 blindfolded solve this morning, so that's like my 3rd or 4th success. More on the way. I hope to get my memo and solve combined under 10 minutes. Sometimes I get everything solved except a couple corners twisted or edges flipped, or a cycle of 3 wrong. Usually the failure is due to bad memory. If its bad execution, like forgetting to rotate the cube back to my standard orientation, then everything is FUBAR. It's quite a rush when you open your eyes and see the cube either messed up or solved.   Posted by 8 ball corner pocket on Sunday, September 14, 2008 - 8:10 PM [Reply to this]

	8 ball corner pocket Robert Johnson	Thanks Mikie. This weekend I tried more times. Mornings seem to work best for me, I guess because my mind is more cluttered at night. My first try I solved everything but left just 2 edge pieces flipped. (All pieces were correctly placed, and all but those 2 were oriented correctly). I was both bummed and happy at how close I got. I immediately tried again, and DID IT! This morning I tried, but could not remember how to finish a particular sequence, so it came out totally scrambled. So, I have done it 2 times so far. The execution is not as tough as remembering. Often, as I try to memorize what needs to be done, I think "I can't remember all this!" But I recite it a few times until I got it, then recite it again to be sure. Then I make sure I am holding the cube with my standard orientation, turn out the lights, and solve.   Posted by 8 ball corner pocket on Monday, September 08, 2008 - 8:00 PM [Reply to this]

	8 ball corner pocket Robert Johnson	4th successful blindfolded 3x3 solve today. I woke up on the couch, went to bed, and scrambled a cube. I took about 15 minutes to memorize. Then at 4:00 am I closed my eyes and began solving. At 4:15 am I opened my eyes to see the cube solved. Edge Orientations: B2A hex. Corner Orientations, BAAB BCCB. Corner Cycles: (1 7 5 3)(2 8 4 6). Edge Cycles: (1 3 12 6 4 5)(7 9 10)(2 11). I am writing this 11 hours later, after sleeping, but I am 99% sure I am recalling it accurately now. Overall, it seems my blindfold solves are about 40% successful, 30% close, 30% botched up.   Posted by 8 ball corner pocket on Monday, September 15, 2008 - 7:15 PM [Reply to this]

	8 ball corner pocket Robert Johnson	Another success today. Edge oriented D9E. Corners BAAA BCCC. Corner cycles (1 6 3 8 4 7)(2 5). This came down to (1 7)(2 5), which I solved doing (U' R2 [Caltech maneuver] R2 U). Edge cycles (1 8 6 2 9 4 7 12 3 5 11)(10). I think it was about 30 minutes total to memorize and then do without looking. Just previous to that I had a near success. All ended up okay except 3 edges were cycled. I know exactly why. At the end I had 2 corners to swap and 2 edges, but I couldn't figure out how to set up for a T-Perm because one of those edges was in an tough spot. So I tried to change those 2 edges to 2 edges on top for the T-perm. I should have just swapped 2 pairs of edges to do this, but I thought I could do a 3-cycle to fix one edge and have a simple 3-cycle left. I fixed the wrong edge, causing the goof. I spent 20 minutes total on the memorization and near-solve.   Posted by 8 ball corner pocket on Saturday, September 20, 2008 - 6:14 PM [Reply to this]

	8 ball corner pocket Robert Johnson	Sixth successful solve, I think. Losing track. Just a few hours ago. Edge orientations were 24A (Remembered it is like powers of 2 except A not 8. Also, tapping pieces helps me remember positions.) Corner orientations were BACA CAAA (remembered the sound ba-ca-caaa). Corner cycles were (1 3 5 8 4 7)(2 6). That left me (1 7)(2 6) after the 3 cycles were finished, which I solved by moving the 4 pieces into an "X" on top, solved with H-perm and U2, and moved the pieces back. Edge cycles were (1 4 5 8 12)(3 9 11 10)(2 6)(7). After the 3-cycles were done that left (3 10)(2 6) which I set up for Z-perm and unset up.   Posted by 8 ball corner pocket on Sunday, September 21, 2008 - 9:55 PM [Reply to this]

	8 ball corner pocket Robert Johnson	After a few failures, I did my 7th solve. It was a doozy! Edge Orientations: 823 hex. Corner Orientations: BACA ACAA. Corner cycles: (126)(38)(4 5 7). Edge cycles: (1 7 6 8 10 3 12 11)(2 5)(4 9). After fixing the orientations, I did the corner cycles, reducing to (3 8). Then I did Edge cycles reducing to (1 11)(2 5)(4 9). I used H-perm to reduce edges to (4 9). Now the only thing left were corners (3 8) and edges (4 9). I did not see an easy way to set these up onto the top face for an easy T-perm (or something), so I did (4 9 2) so edges would be (4 2). Then I could move corner 8 up, do T-perm, and put it back. Memorization was about 14 minutes. Execution was 12 minutes. Total 26 minutes.   Posted by 8 ball corner pocket on Sunday, September 28, 2008 - 2:02 PM [Reply to this]

	8 ball corner pocket Robert Johnson	8th successful blindfolded solve. Maybe 20 minutes total (10 for memo, 10 for solve). EO: A0F hex CO: CABC CCAC Corner cycles: (1 4 2 8 3 5 7)(6) Edge cycles: (1 2)(3 12 5 11 7 6 9)(4 8)(10) At the end, I had edges (1 2)(4 8). I used (4 8 3) to make them (1 2)(3 4), then used Z perm.   Posted by 8 ball corner pocket on Friday, October 03, 2008 - 11:27 AM [Reply to this]

	8 ball corner pocket Robert Johnson	9th successful blindfold 3x3 solve. Edge orientations: 807 hex. Corner orientations: CCCA BCCA (Actually, I visualized where the As and B were and knew the rest were Cs.) Corner cycles: (1 7 8 4 3)(2 5)(6) Edge cycles: (1 4 8 12 5 11 3 10 7 9 6 2), yes a 12 cycle again. I ended up with (2 5) for corners, (1 2) for edges. I did a 3-cycle on each to make (1 2) for corners and (1 3) for edges for a T-perm.   Posted by 8 ball corner pocket on Monday, October 06, 2008 - 12:57 PM [Reply to this]

	8 ball corner pocket Robert Johnson	10th successful blindfolded 3x3 cube solve. Edges flipped: 0A9. Corners twisted: CCAB CCBB. Edge cycles: (1 8 9)(2 12 7 11 4 5 6)(3 10) Corner cycle: (1 4 2 3 7 6 8 5) I turned the final (3 10) edge cycle into (1 3) by doing (3 10 1). I turned the final (1 5) corner cycle into (1 2) by doing (1 5 2). That gave me a T-perm to solve. I was surprised to see an 8-cycle for corners; the "shape" of that cycle was not hard to memorize.   Posted by 8 ball corner pocket on Monday, October 13, 2008 - 3:31 PM [Reply to this]

	8 ball corner pocket Robert Johnson	11th successful 3x3 blindfolded solve. Edge orientations: 813 hex Corner orientations: CCBB BCBB (I just visualized where the 3 C's were) Edge cycles: (1 4 6 3 12 11 9 7 8 2)(5)(10) Corner cycles: (1 8 3 2)(4 6)(5 7) The edge cycles ended up as (1 2), corner cycles as (1 2)(4 6)(5 7). I used a J-Perm to fix edges (1 2) and corners (1 2). It is not one of my safest permutations to do with my eyes closed, but it felt like no problem. Next I did a the 3 cycle (4 6 3) to convert (4 6) into (4 3). Then I twisted the 5,7 pieces up into positions 1,2 (using B2 D' B2 D' B2) to set up for an E-perm, then reversed the setup. [Note to readers: ULB=1, URB=2, URF=3, ULF=4, DLB=5, DRB=6, DRF=7, DLF=8. My edges go UB=1, UR=2, UF=3, UL=4, BL=5, BR=6, FR=7, FL=8, DB=9, DR=10, DF=11, DL=12.] 10 minutes to memorize + 15 to execute = 25 minutes total.   Posted by 8 ball corner pocket on Friday, October 17, 2008 - 11:59 AM [Reply to this]

	8 ball corner pocket Robert Johnson	followed this with a "near solve". Edge orientations: E83 hex Corner orientations: BCAA ACBC Corner cycles: (2 8 6 4 7 3) Edge cycles: (1 6 8 5 4 9 3 11 2 7 10 12) I ended up with corners (2 3) + edges (1 12). Did edge cycle (1 12 3) to make (1 3) then did F perm. The result was everything right except 2 corners twisted -- because I remembered the corner orientations as 3 A-C pairs but I forgot that for one of the pairs I did with cube rotated with Left on Top, so it should have been twisted as C-A rather than A-C.   Posted by 8 ball corner pocket on Friday, October 17, 2008 - 7:15 PM [Reply to this]

	8 ball corner pocket Robert Johnson	12th successful3x3 blindfold solve. Scramble from JNetCube: B2 F L D' U L2 B2 R F2 L2 B2 L2 D B2 L F2 R' B' F2 D2 R' B2 U' B' R I did this at about 8 pm. All other times I did blindfold solves in the morning, when my mind was fresh. Finally, I proved to myself I can do it at other times of the day. I took plenty of time to memo it. I reviewed my memo while I ate dinner. Corner orientations: CABA ACBC (4 corners pointed out the back face, 2 on front left pointed frontward.) Edge orientations: 5CC hex Corner cycles: (1 5 2 8 4)(3 6)(7) Edge cycles: (1 11 8 10 12 2 6)(3 5)(4 9 7) Ended up with corners (3 6) and edges (3 5). Did (3 6 4) on corners and (3 5 1) on edges, then solved the T-perm.   Posted by 8 ball corner pocket on Saturday, October 18, 2008 - 12:26 AM [Reply to this]

	8 ball corner pocket Robert Johnson	13th 3x3 blindfold solve. Edge orientations: 261 hex Corner orientations: "wheels" on Top (with whites/yellows pointing out to left/right sides), symbol "pi" on Bottom (with w/y pointing left/right in front but backward in back) Corner cycles: (1 7 5 2 8)(3)(4 6) Edge cycles: (1 8 12 5 2 7 4)(3 11 9)(6 10) I ended up with corners (4 6) and edges (6 10). I used a 3 cycle to convert the corners to (4 3), and 3 cycles to convert the edges to (1 6), then to (1 3). Then I solved the T-perm. I had a near solve just before this. Not only did I peek once to confirm my solving was on track, but I also memo'ed the last 2 edges in a cycle in the wrong order. I daydreamed for a few seconds and could not remember if I undid a setup move or not. It turns out I did. I have had other DNFs like this before, and I call them "near solves". Such solves are okay for training. I am learning that I tend to finish the sequences before I get distracted. That particular solve had tricky corner orientations. I used an E-perm to swap 2 pairs.   Posted by 8 ball corner pocket on Saturday, October 18, 2008 - 4:12 PM [Reply to this]

	8 ball corner pocket Robert Johnson	14th (at least) successful blindfold 3x3 solve. Edge orientations: 624 hex Corner orientations: CACA BACB (I did not use those letters. Instead I remembered the Top had "wheels" pointing front/back, bottom "headlights" to right.) Corner cycles: (1 7 4 3)(2 8 6 5) Edge cycles: (1 11 6 5 8 7 12 2 4 10 9)(3) Ended up with corners (1 3)(2 5), solved by doing setup D', Caltech maneuver (R B' R' B)*3, then unsetup D.   Posted by 8 ball corner pocket on Sunday, October 19, 2008 - 5:27 PM [Reply to this]

	8 ball corner pocket Robert Johnson	15th. Edge orientations: EC4 hex Corner orientations: Only 3 corners twisted. We can do R2 [CW twist ULF,UFR,URB] R2. Corner cycles: (1 2 7 3 8)(4 6 5) Edge cycles: (1 9 2)(3 11 12 6 8 5)(4)(7 10) Ended with edges (3 5)(7 10). I did setup (L R' U R'), then Z-perm, then undid the setup. I did not time my memorization or execution. An hour earlier I goofed up a blindfold attempt apparently because I remembered an edge cycle wrong.   Posted by 8 ball corner pocket on Monday, October 20, 2008 - 11:41 AM [Reply to this]

	8 ball corner pocket Robert Johnson	16th successful 3x3 BLD solve. Edge orientations: 66F hex Corner orientations: top had "pi" symbol, legs pointing away toward back. Bottom had "cameleon eyes" in back pointing left/right. (CAAC CABB hex.) Corner cycles: (1 5 4 6 3 7 2)(8) Edge cycles: (1 10 6 8 2 3)(4 7 12)(5 11)(9) Ended up with (1 3)(5 11). I did (L D R2) for setup of H-permutation, then undid setup with (R2 D' L'). Execution took 9 minutes I think. Not sure how long memo was. I am guessing total time was 20 minutes. Just prior to this, I had a failed attempt. I was swapping edges near the end, and got confused by my cube rotations... I intended to rotate the cube [f][r] then do (M' U2 M U2) to swap edges (8 6 5) then rotate back with [r'][f']. But after swapping the edges, I thought I forgot the [r], so I undid the swap, did [r], swap, then [r'][f']. When I had "finished" my cube, I noticed everything was scrambled because it was rotated. Apparently I did not forget the [r] in the first place. The solve probably would have been fine if I had not gotten confused at that one moment.   Posted by 8 ball corner pocket on Tuesday, October 21, 2008 - 10:53 AM [Reply to this]

	8 ball corner pocket Robert Johnson	Here is what I remember about the failed attempt before 16th success. I forgot to mention it before, because I figured failures are not so important. But I am surprised I still remember it. It has been at least 6 hours. edge orientations: 2F1 hex corner orientations: CBBB CBAA hex. (an R2 would make "headlights" on top pointing back, and "headlights" on bottom pointing left.) corner cycles: (1 5 7 3 6 2 4 8) edge cycles: (1 9 2)(3 11 8 6 5 10)(4 12 7) Actually, I failed worse than I thought. I should not have been doing (8 6 5) anyway on the edges, but (3 6 5). I ended up with (1 8) for corners which I used (1 8 2) to convert the swap to (1 2); and also (3 10) for edges which I turned into (1 3) using (3 10 1). Then I did a T-perm. Total chaos resulted, partly due to confused cube rotation, as said before.   Posted by 8 ball corner pocket on Tuesday, October 21, 2008 - 4:41 PM [Reply to this]

	8 ball corner pocket Robert Johnson	17th successful blindfold 3x3 solve. Edge orientations: 2DF hex Corner orientations: pi symbol on top with feet pointing toward right, cameleon eyes on bottom left pointing front/back. Corner orientations: (1 6 4 8 2)(3 5 7) Edge orientations: (1 7 4 11 6 8 9 10)(2)(3 12)(5) Ended with edges (1 10)(3 12). I did L2 R2 to set up for Z-perm. I think the execution took 10 minutes (or less). With memo probably 20 minutes total.   Posted by 8 ball corner pocket on Wednesday, October 22, 2008 - 3:11 PM [Reply to this]

	8 ball corner pocket Robert Johnson	18th. Edge orientations: FC0 hex. Corner orientations: headlights on top pointing backward, chameleon eyes on bottom in back, ULF cw and DRF ccw. Corner cycles: (1 3 2 7 8 6 4)(5) Edge cycles: (1 9 12 8 3 4 10 6)(2)(5 11)(7) Ended up with edges (1 6)(5 11). I solved as a Z-perm by setting up with R' L F2. Execution took 8 minutes. With memo, maybe 20 minutes total.   Posted by 8 ball corner pocket on Thursday, October 23, 2008 - 12:31 PM [Reply to this]

	8 ball corner pocket Robert Johnson	19th. Edge orientations: A7B hex Corner orientations: 0-T3-A3 according to http://cube.garron.us/BLD/CO.htm that is to say, UFR needed to go CW and UBL needed to go CCW; turn cube 180 about L-R axis and turn CCW cubies UFL, UFR, UBR. Corner cycles: (1 7 2)(3 8 6)(4 5) Edge cycles: (1 2 12 7)(3 5 4 9 11 10)(6 8) When I did the first 2 edge cycles I ended up with (1 7)(3 10) which I solved with Z-perm. Then I had left corners (4 5) which I converted to (3 4) and edges (6 8) which I converted to (1 3) using H-perm. I solved the resulting corners and edges using a T-perm. Took a long time.   Posted by 8 ball corner pocket on Friday, October 24, 2008 - 1:01 PM [Reply to this]

	8 ball corner pocket Robert Johnson	20th successful 3x3 BLD solve. Edge orientations: 65A hex Corner orientations: cubies UBL, UFL, UFR turn CCW; DFR cw and DBL ccw; UBR ccw and DBR cw. Corner cycles: (1)(2 8 7 5 6 3 4) Edge cycles: (1 6 9 7)(2 12 3 4)(5)(8 11 10) Set up for H-perm to fix edges (1 7)(2 4). I did not check the clock, but I know I was slow for both memo and execution. I actually thought I had goofed, and was surprised to see it solved.   Posted by 8 ball corner pocket on Friday, October 24, 2008 - 11:56 PM [Reply to this]

	8 ball corner pocket Robert Johnson	21st. Edge orientations: 485 hex Corner orientations: chameleon eyes on top left pointing front/back, chameleon eyes on bottom back pointing left/right, also cubies UFR ccw and DFL cw. Corner cycles: (1 7 6 3 5 2)(4)(8) Edge cycles: (1 4 2 3)(5 11 6 8 10)(7 12 9) After doing the 3 cycles, I ended up with corners (1 2) and edges (1 3) which was a simple T-perm. Total time was about 13 minutes memo and 15 minutes execution -- 28 minutes total. I had just prior to this done two unsuccessful BLD solves. Both ended up with a simple edge 3 cycle. The reason was because I am so used to all my cycles beginning with "1", when I should have remembered some cycles began with "2" or "3". This happens near the end, like when I try to do some extra 3 cycles in order to set up for a T-perm.   Posted by 8 ball corner pocket on Saturday, October 25, 2008 - 5:54 PM [Reply to this]

	8 ball corner pocket Robert Johnson	22nd successful 3x3 blindfolded solve. edge orientations: B8F hex corner orientations: ccw Sune UFL, UBL, UBR; cw UFR, ccw DFL; cw Sune DFR, DBR, DBL. corner cycles: (1 3 2 4)(5 8 6 7) conicidental that U cubies were on U and D cubies were on D. edge cycles: (1 12 11 2 5 8 7)(3 4 6 9 10) Setup corners (1 4)(5 7) into E-perm to fix them. Previous BLD attempt was off by 2 edges. Both solves totalled 58 minutes, so I guess this one probably took 30 minutes total (maybe 15 memo and 15 execution). Last night I had 3 or 4 BLD failures, of which only one was totally mangled and the others were reasonably close.   Posted by 8 ball corner pocket on Sunday, October 26, 2008 - 7:09 PM [Reply to this]

	8 ball corner pocket Robert Johnson	23rd edge orientations: B6B hex corner orientations: setup F2 for anti-sune on top with fixed cubie at UFL, unsetup. Bottom had headlights pointing out the back. corner cycles: (1)(2 7 4 5 6 8)(3) edge cycles: (1 12 4 9 10 7 11 8 3 2 5 6) When done with cycles, I converted corners (2 8) to (1 2) and edges (1 6) to (1 3) then did a T-perm. Not sure about memo, but execution took 11 minutes I think. There was a full one minute or so where I tried to remember the 3 2 5 6 ordering at the end of the edge cycles. I took a good guess.   Posted by 8 ball corner pocket on Monday, October 27, 2008 - 4:44 PM [Reply to this]

	8 ball corner pocket Robert Johnson	24th edge orientations: 710 hex corner orientations: UFL, UBL, UBR cw; DFL ccw and DFR cw (headlights pointing forward on bottom); UFR ccw and DBR cw corner cycles: (1 2 4 7 3 8 5)(6) edge cycles: (1 12 2 11)(3 5 7 4 6)(8 10)(9) At the end I had edges (1 11)(8 10). I setup (U L R2) for H-perm then unsetup using (R2 L U'). I did not check the time. Maybe 15 minutes memo + 10 execution = 25 minutes total. Just prior to this, this morning, I had 2 near solves. Both ended with everything correct except 2 corners were twisted wrong.   Posted by 8 ball corner pocket on Tuesday, October 28, 2008 - 2:28 PM [Reply to this]

	8 ball corner pocket Robert Johnson	25th Edge orientations: 960 hex corner orientations: only 4 cubies. Do L' to get headlights on top pointing forward, then L to restore. Chameleon eyes on bottom in back pointing left/right. Corner cycles: (1 4 2 8 7 6)(3)(5) Edge cycle: (1 10 2 8, 11 4 3 7, 9 12 5 6) I use commas here to indicate I remember them in groups of four to help track cycle lengths and missing cubies. I ended by converting corners (1 6) to (1 2) and edges (1 6) to (1 3), then did a T-perm. Memo was started the night before, but I was too sleepy to begin solving it, so I wanted to wait until morning. "Poker After Dark" was on TV while I memoed (mostly during commercials). Execution took about 11 minutes. ============================== 26th a few minutes later. Edge orientations: 29E hex Corner orientations: ccw for UFL, UFR, UBR; cw for DFR, DFL, DBL; cw UBL, cww DBR. Corner cycles: (1 4 5 8)(2 3)(6 7) I took care of (2 3)(6 7) by setting up with D2 L2 then E-perm then L2 D2 to restore. The resulting (1 8) I quickly converted to (1 2). Edge cycle: (1 2 11 10, 6 4 8 12, 5 7 9 3) With corners (1 2) and edges (1 3) I just did a T-perm. Memo time unknown. Execution was 9 minutes or less.   Posted by 8 ball corner pocket on Thursday, October 30, 2008 - 3:40 PM [Reply to this]

	8 ball corner pocket Robert Johnson	27th edge orientations: 677 hex corner orientations: wheels on top pointing left/right. Rotating cube [f2], headlights pointing to the right. corner cycles: (1 2 4)(3 8 5 7)(6) edge cycles: (1 6 4 10 8 12 7 11)(2 3)(5 9) After I did corner cycles (1 2 4) and (3 8 5) I was left with (3 7) which I converted to (3 2) using (3 7 2). After I did edge cycles I had (1 11)(2 3)(5 9). I used Z perm to fix (1 11)(2 3) anc converted (5 9) to (2 5) using (5 9 2) then converted (2 5) to (2 4) using (2 5 4). With corners (2 3) and edges (2 4) I did a T-perm. I have no idea about the memo or execution times. Just prior to this, I did two blindfold attempts which resulted in near success. The first failed because I moved corner cubie 5 rather than 8, resulting in a bad 3-cycle. The second failed because I started the final F-perm with the top face oriented 180 degrees off. Both of the failed solves would have been fine if I didn't make that one mistake in each.   Posted by 8 ball corner pocket on Friday, October 31, 2008 - 3:05 PM [Reply to this]

	8 ball corner pocket Robert Johnson	28th EO: B6E hex CO: Only 4 cubies. headlights on top pointing right. With setup R2 you get chameleon eyes on top front, pointing left/right. Corner cycles: (1 2 4 6 3 8 7)(5) Edge cycles: (1 10 12)(2 5 3 8 11)(4)(6 7 9) Only 3-cycles needed, no double swaps or parity fix. My lunch and excessive coffee made me sleepy. I was napping off and on for maybe 40 minutes while trying to memo. I probably took 10 or 15 minutes to execute. I felt real uncertain about the edge cycle memo during execution. My gut told me that I remembered seeing piece 2 in position 11 and piece 9 in position 7. I was surprised to see I got it right!   Posted by 8 ball corner pocket on Friday, October 31, 2008 - 8:28 PM [Reply to this]

	8 ball corner pocket Robert Johnson	29th successful blindfolded 3x3 solve. EO: 83B hex CO: On top, headlights pointing back. With cube flipped by [f2], headlights on right. Also UFR cw, DFR ccw. Corner cycles: (1 7 3 4 6 5 8)(2) Edge cycles: (1 9 12 10)(2 5 4 6 3 11 8 7) At end of edge cycles I had (1 10)(2 7). I did (D' L2 U R) for Z perm, then restored. Took probably 30 minutes total, for memorizing and executing.   Posted by 8 ball corner pocket on Saturday, November 01, 2008 - 3:15 PM [Reply to this]

	8 ball corner pocket Robert Johnson	30th edge orientations: E29 hex corner orientations: UBL,UBR,UFR ccw; UFL cw, DFR ccw; chameleon eyes on bottom back pointing left/right. corner cycles: (1 6 3 7 4)(2 5)(8) edge cycles: (1 5)(2 6 8 9)(3)(4 10 11 12) I was surprised that the edge cycles were easier than normal to memorize. I memo'd edge cycles first, then corner cycles, then edge flips, then corner twists. My memo time was probably shorter than normal. Maybe 6 minuters. Execution took me about 9 or 10 minutes. I did corner and edge orientations first. I did corner cycles next. I was left with (2 5) which I converted to (1 2) for a future parity fix. Next I did edge cycles and was left with 3 pairs, (1 5)(2 9)(4 12). I converted the (1 5) to (1 3) and took care of that and the bad (1 2) corners using a T-perm. That left me with (2 9)(4 12). I did (B2 D F2) then Z-perm, then restored it with (F2 D' B2). I openned my eyes and was pleased that I did everything right!   Posted by 8 ball corner pocket on Sunday, November 02, 2008 - 4:36 PM [Reply to this]

	8 ball corner pocket Robert Johnson	31st successful blindfolded 3x3 solve. eo: 53F hex co: all cubies go cw except BFL which goes ccw. edge cycles: (1 8 11)(2 7 5 6 10 3)(4)(9 12) corner cycles: (1 6 7 8 4 2 5)(3) I ended up with (2 3)(9 12). I did (L2 B2) then Z-perm then restored with (B2 L2). I didn't check the time. Just prior to this I had a total chaos failure. As I remember now (which may have been part of my mistake)... eo: E57 hex co: on top, headlights pointing back. UFR cw, DFL ccw. DFR,DBR,DBL cw. edge cycles: (1 2 7 6 10 12 9)(3 4 8 11)(5) corner cycles: (1)(2 4 8 6 5)(3 7) After I did the cycles, I converted edges (3 11) to (1 3) and corners (3 7) to (3 4) so I could do a T-perm. I was actually surprised at the resulting chaos. I didn't think I made a mistake. My execution must have bad because orientations were totally mangled, as well as positions.   Posted by 8 ball corner pocket on Monday, November 03, 2008 - 5:18 AM [Reply to this]

	8 ball corner pocket Robert Johnson	32nd successful blindfolded solve. eo: 729 hex co: headlights on top pointing to the right. headlights on right pointing back. corner cycles: (1 2 5)(3 8 7 4 6) edge cycles: (1 6 11 7, 10 5 8 3, 2)(4 12 9) Nothing but 3-cycles. I diid not memo the corner cycles well. I spent at least 1 minute trying to remember if it was (1 2 5) or (1 5 2). So I went to the other corner cycle and also thought for awhile. I remembered the 3 first. the 8 7 ordering seemed right, then up to 4 and down to 6. I thought I remembered seeing piece 3 where 6 was. So that was my best guess, (3 8 7 4 6). I went back and went with my first gut instinct, (1 2 5). Success! Not sure about memo. Execution was 13 minutes.   Posted by 8 ball corner pocket on Monday, November 03, 2008 - 5:49 PM [Reply to this]

	8 ball corner pocket Robert Johnson	33rd successful blindfolded Rubik's Cube solve. Edge orientations: 457 hex Corner orientations: UFL,UFR,UBR ccw. On bottom, headlights pointing backward. Corner cycles: (1 4 2 7 6 5 3)(8) Edge cycles: (1 12 5 3)(2 10 4)(6 11 8 7)(9) After using 3-cycles I ended up with edges (1 3)(6 7). I just did (U2 R2)*3. I didn't catch the times for memo or execution, but maybe 12 minutes memo, 10 execution, so 22 minutes total. Just prior to this I had 2 failures, with just one mistake in each. I could fortunately tell by inspection how I had screwed up in each. In the first failure, I set up for an E-perm but forgot to unset up afterwards. That was at the end of corner cycles, so when I did edge cycles several edges ended up wrong. If I recall correctly, eo: D47 hex co: UFL,UFR,UBR cw. flip cube by [f2] and I had the same thing except ccw for the 3 cubies. corner cycles: not sure, but probably (1 3 2 5 8 4)(6 7) edge cycles: (1 4)(2)(3 11 5 8 7 6 9 12)(10) [?not sure] In the 2nd failure, I recognized a corner cubie as 8 when it should have been 5. (The other cubie was already placed correctly.) The result was the entire cube solved except 3 corners swapped. It's too bad -- the other stuff I did was good, including the F-perm (with setup and setdown) for edge/corner parity fix. If I remember correctly, eo: 0F0 hex (yes, quite strange) co: headlights on top pointing back. Chameleon on bottom in back. corner cycles: not sure now edge cycles: (1 3 11)(2 6 9 5 12 8 7)(4 10) [pretty sure]   Posted by 8 ball corner pocket on Tuesday, November 04, 2008 - 4:23 PM [Reply to this]

	8 ball corner pocket Robert Johnson	34th eo: 24C hex co: UFL cw, DFR ccw. Chameleon eyes on bottom back. corner cycles: (1 4 2 3 7)(5 8)(6) edge cycles: (1 11 6 3 2)(4 10 9 8 12 7)(5) After fixing the orientations, I did edge cycles because the corner cycles were easy to remember for later. I am trying memory methods. I converted the edge cycles into the story "I throw a pencil (1) through goal posts (11) at the Star of David (6) but it lands near a stool (3) and rolls under some sexy legs (2)." Next I have the story, "A cow (4) drops an egg (10) onto a Cube (9) which an octopus (8) is considering speed solving (12=clock) but he plays craps instead (7=dice)." I also remembered piece 5 was in place, so that accounts for all 12 edges. I ended up with edges (4 7) which I converted to (4 2). I used an E-perm to convert corners (5 8) to (1 4). The 2 edges and 2 corners were then solved with a T-perm. Maybe 25 minutes total, 13 for memo, 12 for execution. Some of my memo time was spent reviewing what I memorized. Some of the execution was spent trying to figure out how to handle the edge/corner parity.   Posted by 8 ball corner pocket on Wednesday, November 05, 2008 - 3:16 PM [Reply to this]

	8 ball corner pocket Robert Johnson	35th successful blindfolded 3x3 solve edge orientations: DB0 hex corner orientations: do R' then we have a ccw triplet UFL,UFR,UBR. Fix then restore with R. corner cycles: (1 4 5 3 7)(2 8 6) edge cycles: (1 7 12 10 11 5)(2 9 3 6)(4)(8) Ended up with edges (1 5)(2 6). I did (L U' R') to set up for Z-perm and restored it. I didn't time myself, but I thought my time was not as bad as usual. Maybe 15 or 20 minutes total. I used a story method for the cycles except for (1 4 5 3 7) which I visualized. =========== Just prior to this solve I had a "near solve", with only 3 edges cycled wrong. The edges in my story method for a cycle were fine. The other was only a 2 edge cycle, but I started to do (2 6) when I should have swapped (2 9) I undid the mistake and did it right, then did some corner and edge cycles for a T-perm. Somehow I got 3 edges wrong.   Posted by 8 ball corner pocket on Thursday, November 06, 2008 - 8:56 PM [Reply to this]

	8 ball corner pocket Robert Johnson	36th successful blindfold solve. edge orientations: 911 hex (easy to remember) corner orientations: If I set up with F2 then I have pi symbol with feet pointing right. Also, chameleon eyes on bottom in back. corner cycles: (1 2 4 3)(5 8 7)(6) edge cycles: (1 4 2)(3 10 6 12 8 5 7 9)(11) When done, I converted corners (1 3) to (1 2) and edges (3 9) to (1 3), then used T-perm. I am not sure how long the memo took, but the execution took less than 8 minutes. I will guess 16 minutes total, including memo. It helped that I used a "story" method to remember edge cycles.   Posted by 8 ball corner pocket on Friday, November 07, 2008 - 2:12 PM [Reply to this]

	8 ball corner pocket Robert Johnson	37th edge orientations: A9C hex corner orientations: chameleon eyes on top in front. Chameleon eyes on bottom in front. If I setup with R then I would have UFR cw and UBL ccw. corner cycles: (1 5 7 3)(2)(4 6 8) edge cycles: (1 11 2 12 5 8)(3 9 4 6 7)(10) Converted remaining corner cycle (1 3) to (1 2) and edge cycle from (1 8) to (1 3) and did a T-perm. I think I took 12 minutes memo + 9 minutes execution = 21 minutes total. Used story method for edge cycles. Last night I tried to do a BLD after beers while a live band was blaring about 15 feet away. I actually focused pretty well. I didn't have a problem with my memo but execution. A couple times my hands were on auto-pilot and got lost, resulting in a failure. This morning before my success, I tried a bld but failed -- I flipped a wrong edge, had 2 edges memo'd in the wrong order, and also tried to be clever with swapping 2 pairs of corners.   Posted by 8 ball corner pocket on Sunday, November 09, 2008 - 7:11 PM [Reply to this]

	8 ball corner pocket Robert Johnson	38th successful blindfolded 3x3 solve. edge orientations: 6E7 hex corner orientations: headlights on top pointing left. Bottom has 3 ccw corners with DFL okay. corner cycles: (1 8 5 2 6)(3)(4 7) edge cycles: (1 10 11 2, 7 5 4 9, 8 12 3 6) I was left with corners (4 7) which I converted to (4 1) and edges (1 6) which I converted to (1 3). That left me with an F-perm. I forgot to look at the clock but I would guess 10 minutes to memorize plus 8 minutes to execute (18 minutes total).   Posted by 8 ball corner pocket on Monday, November 10, 2008 - 3:39 PM [Reply to this]

	8 ball corner pocket Robert Johnson	39th successful solve for 3x3x3 blindfolded this morning. edge orientations: 62B hex corner orientations: chameleon eyes on top left, headlights on bottom left. corner cycles: (1 2 8)(3 6)(4 5)(7) edge cycles: (1 12 7 5, 2 10 4)(3 5)(8 11)(9) For corners (3 6)(4 5) I set up an H-perm using B2 U2, then used B2 to restore. For edges (3 5)(8 11) I set up with L U' L2 U2 F2 for an H-perm, then restored with F2 U2 L2 U L'. Not sure about memorization time because I took a nap in the middle. My execution time was 9 minutes. Just prior to this I had two near solves. On the first I did the wrong edge 3 cycle when converting edges for a T-perm. On the 2nd I flipped the wrong edge due to bad memo, so 2 edges ended up flipped. ======================= 40th successful solve 3x3 BLD this evening 9 pm. edge orientations: 6BB hex corner orientations: 3 ccw at UFR, UBR, DFR (tilt cube by [f'] to do them). 3 cw at DBR, DBL, DFL (rotate cube by [f2] to do them. corner cycles: (1 5 4)(2 7 8 3 6) edge cycles: (1 9 12 6 8 3)(2)(4 7 11 5)(10) After doing the 3-cycles, I had (1 3)(4 5). I converted the (4 5) to (4 2) and did an H-perm. Started nemorizing about 8:48 pm. Started executing (with hands and cube under table) at 9:00. Done at 9:09 pm. So, 12 minutes to memo + 9 minutes to execute = 21 minutes total.   Posted by 8 ball corner pocket on Wednesday, November 12, 2008 - 2:22 AM [Reply to this]

	8 ball corner pocket Robert Johnson	41st edge orientations: BA2 hex corner orientations: wheels on top, pointing front/back. flip [f2], pi on bottom legs pointing right. corner cycles: (1 4 7 8 5 3)(2)(6) edge cycles: (1 6 12 9, 11 2 10 7, 3 8 5 4) I ended up with corners (1 3) and edges (1 4). I could have done a Y-perm but I didn't want to chance it BLD. So I converted the corners to (1 2) and edges to (1 3) and used a T-perm. THIS WAS MY FIRST TIME SOLVING IN PUBLIC. A friend did the final scramble on my cube, but left while I was memorizing. The bartender sort of watched as I kept my hands and cube under a tall table, executing the solve in maybe 8 minutes (estimate). I had the equivalent of one beer during the solve. I made sure the bartender watched my hands as I did the final T-perm. Yes, I was happy to see I did it all correct. I was not 100 % sure my story for the edges was right, or that I didn't slip up somewhere.   Posted by 8 ball corner pocket on Wednesday, November 12, 2008 - 6:24 AM [Reply to this]

	8 ball corner pocket Robert Johnson	42nd eo: F60 hex co: UFR,UFL,UBL cw. Headlights pointing to right on bottom. corner cycles: (1 2 4 5)(3)(5)(7 8) edge cycles: (1 12 7 6, 10 3 5 9 4)(2 11 8) When done with the 3-cycles I had corners (1 5)(7 8). I converted the (1 5) to (1 2) so I could bring (7 8) up to the U face for an E-perm. I don't know the memo, execution, or total times. Maybe 10 minutes for memo and 7 for execution.   Posted by 8 ball corner pocket on Wednesday, November 12, 2008 - 1:54 PM [Reply to this]

	8 ball corner pocket Robert Johnson	43rd eo: 4E5 hex co: chameleon eyes on bottom pointing left. Cubie DFR cw and UFL ccw which I handle by rotating cube by [r]. The remaining 4 corners are oriented okay. corner cycles: (1 7 6 4)(2 5)(3 8) edge cycles: (1 8 6 7 4 19 11)(2 9 5)(3 12) I handled the corner cycles (2 5)(3 8) by setting up with L2, then did H-perm and U2, then restored with L2. That left just (1 4) for corners. I converted ecges (3 12) to (3 1) and did F-perm. I spent quite a bit of memo time (12 min?) and executed at my normal speed (8 min?), so maybe the total was 20 minutes. Last night in a bar after some beers and plenty of distractions, I had a failed solve.   Posted by 8 ball corner pocket on Thursday, November 13, 2008 - 11:25 AM [Reply to this]

	8 ball corner pocket Robert Johnson	44th successful 3x3 BLD solve around 7 am this morning. eo: 807 hex co: chameleon eyes on bottom pointing back. UFR,UBR,DFL cw. corner cycles: (1)(2 6 5 4 3)(7)(8) edge cycles: (1 8 10 2, 6 4 11 12, 5 9 3)(7) All 3-cycles. When I did the corner orientations, I used L' to get the 3 cw pieces onto one plane. I forgot to look at the clock when done.   Posted by 8 ball corner pocket on Friday, November 14, 2008 - 7:45 PM [Reply to this]

	8 ball corner pocket Robert Johnson	45th eo: 18C hex co: headlignts pointing right on top, right on bottom, front on left side, 2 okay. corner cycles: (1 7 2 3 5)(4 6 8) edge cycles: (1 6 11 2)(3 8 12 9 10 4 7 5) Ended up with edge cycles (1 2)(3 5). Converted edge pair (3 5) to (3 4) and did Z-perm. Forgot to check time, but maybe 12 for memo + 8 for execution = 20 minutes total.   Posted by 8 ball corner pocket on Saturday, November 15, 2008 - 11:30 AM [Reply to this]

	8 ball corner pocket Robert Johnson	46th successful 3x3 blindfolded solve. eo: C6F hex co: headlights on top pointing left. UFR,UBR,DFR cw which can be handled by tilting cube by [f']. corner cycles: (1 2)(3 5 8)(4)(6 7) edge cycles: (1 5 11)(2)(3 7 4 12, 10 6 8)(9) I handled the corner pairs (1 2)(6 7) by doing D' F2 for an E-perm then F2 D to restore. I did this just before starting edge cycles. I think 9 minutes execution, maybe 20 minutes total. Since my previous success, I had about 6 failures. Two had execution problems. Some failed because I forgot to finish certain stages -- like a pair of headlights during corner orientations or perhaps all edge orientations. I did one edge 3-cycle the wrong way. I swapped 2 edge pairs the wrong way like (5 8)(6 7) rather than (5 6)(7 8), partly due to tough setup moves. I garbled my recall of edge cycles once.   Posted by 8 ball corner pocket on Monday, November 17, 2008 - 6:10 PM [Reply to this]

	8 ball corner pocket Robert Johnson	47th eo: 356 hex co: UBL,UFR,DFR cw (doing R puts them onto U face). Headlights on bottom pointing left. corner cycles: (1)(2 8 4 7 6 5)(3) edge cycles: (1 6 4 9, 12 3 2 10, 5)(7)(8 11) Converted corners (2 5) to (1 2) and edges (8 11) to (1 8) to (1 3), then did T-perm. I didn't check clocks for time.   Posted by 8 ball corner pocket on Tuesday, November 18, 2008 - 5:58 PM [Reply to this]

	8 ball corner pocket Robert Johnson	48th eo: ADB hex co: chameleon on top right, headlights bottom right, headlights front left. corner cycles: (1 8 2 3 7 4 5 6) edge cycles: (1 5 4 12 6)(2 7 8)(3 10 11 9) Ended with corner pair (1 6) which I converted to (1 2) and with edge pair (3 9) which I converted to (1 3). Then I did a T-perm. I looked at clock after memo, before executing, but I forgot to look at clock when finished. Probably 15 to 20 minutes total. Prior to this I had a few near solves and one chaos. A couple near solves were due to omitting a cycle that I had memo'd. Another was due to memo'ing an edge flip wrong.   Posted by 8 ball corner pocket on Wednesday, November 19, 2008 - 12:59 PM [Reply to this]

	8 ball corner pocket Robert Johnson	49th successful blindfold solve... AT A BAR AFTER SOME BEERS!!!! (After I won my APA 9 ball match!) Woo!!11!!! eo: CF0 hex co: UFL,UBR,DFR cw, others oriented okay. I did (R B) to put the 3 into one plane so I could use 3 monoflips on them, then I restored back with (B' R'). corner cycles: (1 7 2 3 5 6)(4)(8) edge cycles: (1 9 11 7 6 10 5 3 8 4 12 2) [NOTE: not 100% sure about 10 5, it was a few hours ago. But I believe it was a 12 cycle and 10 5 was right there.] Converted corners (1 6) to (1 2), and later edges (1 2) to (1 3) and did T-perm to finish. I didn't time the memo or execution.   Posted by 8 ball corner pocket on Thursday, November 20, 2008 - 6:45 AM [Reply to this]

	8 ball corner pocket Robert Johnson	50th blindfolded 3x3 Rubik's Cube solve. eo: A71 hex co: UFR,UBR,DBL cw. Doing L puts the 3 cubies onto the U plane. The other 5 corners were oriented fine. corner cycles: (1 2 7 4 8 3 6 5) [Yes, an 8 cycle.] edge cycles: (1)(2 5 11 3, 12 6 4 9, 8)(7 10) (two=2 hands=5 chopsticks=11 triangle=3. I imagine 2 hands and the chopstick bundle making a triangle. Watch=12 police sherrif's badge=6 car=4 wheels. I'm watching a poice car. Rubiks 3x3 cube=9 Stop sign=8. I'm thinking about a cube and my sequence stops here.) ("No luck." 10 contains a zero which I treat as "nil" or "no". 7 reminds me of casino craps, which relates to luck.) After I did the corner cycles, I immediately converted (1 5) to (1 2). When done with edge cycles, I converted edges (7 10) to (1 10) which gave me a simple setup (D' F2) for T-perm and restore (F2 D). I didn't time my memorizing or execution. I would guess 15 or 20 minutes total. A couple times during my memorizing, I discovered I had recognized pieces incorrectly, so I had to change my story.   Posted by 8 ball corner pocket on Thursday, November 20, 2008 - 6:38 PM [Reply to this]

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