Sydney trip: Cube competition!

Saturday (21/4) was the Rubik's cube competition, which was the reason I chose to go to Sydney on that particular weekend. That day was quite eventful, perhaps a little way too much. In the morning, I checked out of my hostel, and began my 4 km walk to the University of Sydney, where the competition would be taking place.

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Along the way, I learned that the Melbourne cubers (who had been planning to fly in to the competition that morning) had their flight delayed. Also, the competition could not start without the official World Cube Association delegate, who was one of the people stuck at the airport in Melbourne. So I decided to take my time on my walk, stopping to some pictures along the way. Somehow, I ended up walking for 2 whole hours!

But eventually, I made it to the university!

The University of Sydney has some really pretty buildings!

(But some of those buildings are under construction!)

I found my way to the competition. (Or rather, someone from the competition found me standing outside the building, lost!) The Melbourne cubers were still stuck at the airport. But everyone else was present, and they seemed to be having a good time! People were hanging out and cubing.

Whoa! Look at all those puzzles!

The organizers of the competition decided to start soon after I got there. The Melbourne cubers were bringing the equipment for the competition (timers and displays), but some of us had brought our timers along, so we could use those.

Without the delegate present, these rounds would not be officially recognized, but having an unofficial round is better than having nothing.

But as it turned out, Edouard could act as the delegate until the official one came, so we were actually all set for the competition! Perfect!

We had a round of 4x4 in the morning, followed by lunch, followed by 3x3 blindfolded afterwards.

The competition seemed to be going pretty smoothly!

Then the Melbourne cubers arrived around 2pm. We set up their equipment, and the competition proceeded in full speed afterwards with a 3x3 round and finishing with a 2x2 round.

Inspecting my cube before starting a solve! (Photo credit: Luke!)

Finishing another solve! (Photo credit: Laurence!)

Picture of me with Edouard during the awards ceremony! (Photo credit: Luke!)

What a great competition! I suppose you could look at it as a disaster, because the Melbourne cubers had been delayed at the airport, and that ruined what was originally planned. But it was very nice seeing everyone in Sydney work together to keep the competition going! I think this made it a very successful competition, not to mention a very unique one!

In the morning when one of the organizers asked me if I had a timer, I thought for a bit, and realized that the answer was... yes! When I was packing in Melbourne, I had spent a few minutes deciding whether to pack my timer. I had been concerned about bringing too many things over. But then I realized I could ask Edouard to sign it! (I already had it signed by two other world record holders at Melbourne Summer 2012.) For that reason alone, I ended up bringing that timer. And we used to it run the competition in the morning! Thank you Edouard for getting me to bring my timer!

The competition ended, but the day was far from over! (However, this blog post is over. Stay tuned!)

End of Easter break already?

I can't believe it's already Sunday night (9:50pm local time). How did my Easter break pass by so quickly? Did I even get anything done?

Looking back at the past week, I've spent a lot of time at the university library working on two papers, one due this Wednesday and the other due next Monday. That was not so exciting. And this is my first time writing a university-level history paper and a philosophy paper (at any level!), so I experienced a lot more frustration and confusion than I would have liked.

Other than passing hours in the library, I did spend some time outside enjoying the nice weather... when there actually was nice weather! The first few days and last few days were all sunny and warm. However, in the middle, it became super super freezing, and it rained for a few days. The break started off feeling like summer, then all of sudden it became winter, and now it's summer again. But it's actually supposed to be fall now! Melbourne weather sure is crazy!

I did spend Saturday afternoon at the Melbourne Central food court hanging out with some other cubers!

Everyone sure looks happy! (I took the picture after most cubers left. There were a lot more cubers there than this!)

Oooh, I also did a lot of cooking! But I should probably save that for another entry. (Coming soon! Except I should work on my papers...)

Presenting the RMIT Speedcubers Team!

Last night, I went with three other members of the RMIT Cube Club (Andrea, Luke, and Tim) to a pub called "The Brunswick Green" to perform in a variety show called "The Variety Collective." There were also comedians and magicians and other performers. (This included some people that weren't well-known to me but were to everyone else.)

Nick, the host, introduced us as "The RMIT Speedcubers Team." Now doesn't that sound intimidating! When it was our turn, the four of us went up and solved the Rubik's cube one at a time. The lights were really blinding up on the stage, so I think we didn't do as well as we could have. (Also, we didn't get to pre-inspect the cube.) But that doesn't matter. The audience was impressed and entertained. (I hope!)

Nick was really good at introducing us individually as we were solving the cube. I learned quite a few things about myself. Even though I'm called Alan, my real name is "GAP," and I sponsor a particular clothing company!

Tim and I "competed" against each other in the final round. The audience took sides and started cheering. So is this what it feels like to be a wrestler? I won by a little, and that concluded our performance.

After the show ended, we took some pictures and chatted with the people at the event.

Then the other three became hungry so we went to find a place to eat. It turns out that a little down the road, there was a McDonalds that was open 24/7. And with that... I found myself walking into a McDonalds! Oh no!

Here were pictures from the night. As much fun as I had taking these pictures, I think Andrew, Luke, and Tim had more fun being in them!

We found the place, and we found parking!

Here's a picture of me standing in front of the entrance. Oh, what's happening over there?

Inside the pub. This is what you would see if you were looking in from the outside.

Here's the section of the pub set aside for the performances. When I took this picture, the show had not started you, but look at all the people!

Group picture with Nick, our host, after the show.

Picture with Lawrence Leung!

Noooo!!!

What is McDonalds doing open at 11pm?

I didn't get anything, but I watched the other three happily eat their food.

Melbourne Summer 2012 Cube Competition

My first cube competition in Australia was a lot of fun! With around 40 competitors, it was around half the size of Princeton's competitions, but it was still pretty big! And I was the only one from the United States!

Shortly after arrival and registration.

At the scrambling table, practicing 3x3 speed-solve before the competition began.

I spent most of my time scrambling and judging for the competition, but I still got to meet lots of others during the competition. This includes some world record holders!

It's Feliks Zemdegs! He is the current world record holder for the 3x3 single (5.66) and average (7.64)! Amazing!

And Zane Carney! He solved 23 out of 25 cubes blindfolded, a world record! Australia has some really awesome cubers!

I told Feliks's father that I came all the way from California to watch his son. Needless to say, he didn't believe me. I am really glad that I got a chance to watch Felik's solves up close. I even got to judge some of them, which meant standing right next to him as he did his solves. And all the other people (competitors and spectators) would form a big crowd in front of him during each of his solves, so we all were very excited.

One of my official solves during the competition. If only I was as fast as Feliks!

Somehow I managed to win 3rd place at the Rubik's Magic event!

The competition went from 9:30am to 6:00pm. What a long day! It was certainly a lot of fun, but actually, the day wasn't over yet!

Dinner afterwards at the Melbourne Central food court to celebrate!

(A lot of images from the competitions were taken from Luke Clarke's album. Thank you Luke for being our official photographer!)

University of Melbourne Enrolment Day and RMIT Cube Club Meeting

The 17th of February (Friday) was "Enrolment Day" (note the British spelling!) at the University of Melbourne. This meant we had to sit in auditoriums listening to people talk and talk. It probably wasn't the most exciting day, but it was pretty important. After all, it was the first day that study abroad students had to be on campus!

A presentation in the morning!

Lunch break!

A presentation in the afternoon!

We have to go back on Monday to enrol in classes. I thought that we would get this done on Enrolment Day, but I guess not...

Anyways, after the afternoon session, I made my way to RMIT (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology) to attend the university's Rubik's cube club meeting. It was about a kilometer down Swantson street from Melbourne Uni.

It was nice to meet some of the cubers in Melbourne. We sat around and cubed for a while. It's been so long since I last practiced! We also discussed the competition next Saturday, which I can't wait to attend! More cubers!

When I entered the RMIT cafeteria and saw all those cubes, I knew I was in the right place!

Some of us went to a pub afterwards. I've never been to a pub before! (How did I get dragged into this?)