Berkeley Fall 2018!

Bang, fourth competition done.
Goals and mains
my WCA profile
The event
My first comp experience
My second comp experience
My third comp experience

I just wanna say first that I COMPLETELY CHOKED ON 3X3

ok anyway


For this competition, since i decided not do to 4x4 because I can't make cutoff and I had to wake up early, BART was open during the times I needed it.

And my sister was home during this time, so she would bring me there.

On BART, I practiced 2x2, and actually got a PB Average of 5 lol.

When we got off, we needed to take the bus to this place called Hearst Annex, a building extremely close to my sister's dorm room.

So while we were waiting for the bus stop, I checked Pokemon GO and all that. I love how Eevees are common again, because of this event. I didn't get any shinies though, i have a feeling that I will.

On the bus, there was a Valor gym in front, with three spots, so I would put something there.


And then next to the a Pokestop there was a Pikachu, so I decided to quickcatch it...

It's just that I FORGOT TO SLIDE THE THING.

SO THEN I HAD TO WASTE THREE SHAKES OF TIME, AND BY THE TIME IT WAS DONE WE ALREAYD DROVE PAST THE STUPID GYM.

We came right one time, 9:40, which didn't really matter since I was group four. The venue was kinda weird. There were no windows, but it was clean and it wasn't like cramped and all that. It is mainly used as a lecture place, so yeah. It was kind of like a movie theater.

During the wait time, I just grinded 2x2.

And then when it came my time...

I was choking on the first two solves(9 sec), so that brought me the urge to be like HEY. BUDDY WILSON. YOU LITERALLY WERE SO CONFIDENT ABOUT THE MGC AND ALL. YOU BETTER NOT RUIN IT.


So then it led to me getting a seven..

AND THEN BACK TO BACK FIVES.(insert fire emoji)

so yeah, I did pretty good in 2x2.

After 2x2 was...

4x4 BLD. I decided to JUDGE.


DUN                                 DUN                                         DUN

The guy explained to me how judging BLD is different from normally, they would let go of the cube cover themselves, I had to put a piece of paper in front of them, the timer and all that I had to start when they lifted it, and yeah ok.

The only things you could hear in the room were cubes turning, since everyone had to be quiet.

The first guy came over. And I started the timer and all that.

THEN I WAS FORCED TO FRIGIN WATCH SOMEONE WATCH A CUBE...

FOR TEN MINUTES.

The dude was inspecting for frigin 12 minutes, even though that's normal. I forgot how stupid it was to judge 4x4 BLD.

Then after that, it only got worse.

I HAD TO PUT A STUPID PIECE OF PAPER IN BETWEEN THEM, SO THAT HE COULDN'T SEE THROUGH HIS BLINDFOLD, FOR LIKE 10 MINUTES.

My arm was sore the time it was over, and the dude put the cube so close to his face, I was sweating. One time his hand touched the paper and I was scared to death. He stopped for a moment, then continued for a second.

And at the end, the dude frigin DNFd so bad. LIke I saw no progress, he must've messed up really early. I felt bad for the dude, so I did the I-feel-bad-for-you face, but really, in my mind, I was like "BOI YOU MADE ME SIT AND WATCH YOU DO SOME STUPID BORING STUFF FOR 10 MINUTES, THEN I HAVE TO HOLD A FRIGIN PIECE OF PAPER IN A TIGHT GAP FOR ANOTHER 10. YOU COUDLN'T EVEN SOLVE THE CUBE. YOU'RE TRASH."



Then another two people came. I really wanted to judge Graham Siggins, since he's ok I guess, doesn't take FOREVER(ahem)

This guy was slightly faster, but I learned to play video games while holding stuff, and the other two people didn't leave like a centimeter gap at least.


So yeah, it was cool.


After 4x4 BLD was done, I plopped myself out and just went "I'm out SUCKAAASS"



Then it was time to go to lunch!

During the walks, I would keep Pokemon GO off because of ADVENTURE SYNC.

If you don't know, Adventure Sync is like FitBit but on Pokemon GO. It encourages you to walk outside and stuff, and tracks your steps offline. Every week, if you walk a certain amount of KMs, you get certain amount of prizes.

I could've been spinning and catching along the way, but really I'm trying to not play as much.


We went to this place called Super Duper burgers.

Their burgers are great(not sponsored btw). Their meat is RLY good, and they gave out free doughnuts if you ordered today.

My sister and I also bought garlic fries, which were really good.


It was a great meal, and I came back to grind 3x3

Then finally 3x3 came, I was group two and


I DID HORRIBLE OKAY. I CHOKED +2S ON THE FIRST TWO SOLVES THEN GOT 27, 26, AND 23. SHUT UP OK I DONT CARE ABOU TYOU.


Then i realized that there was a cube shop, yay.(holy cow shoot I forgot to do the comparisons thingy. Ok ill do it at the bottom then I guess)

Then I realized that this dude was not an organizer or behind the competition at all. He was just a competitor that just sold homemade magnetized cubes.

I gotta say the GANS R was pretty good, but for 45 dollars?
Valk M for 35 dollars? The power came out.
GTS2M for 35 dollars? The GTS3M came out.
MGC 2x2 for 10 dollars? You didn't even lube it, and they are worth nine dollars on the cubicle.


THIS KID WAS RIPPING US OFF.

I get how he was trynna make profit, but like these prices were way off. It's not like he set up the cubes or added extra lubes or anything, it's just magnetized. YOu can literally get like 10 dollars cheaper on speedcubeshop(not gonna include link because I'm too lazy and thecubicle is better)


And before you know it this kid bought a GAN.

Then another kid asked his mom for 35 dollars, and HIS MOM FRIGIN LET HIM.

Then another kid bought something.
The MGCs were already sold out



AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH


I wanted to straight up expose this kid


AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH


This kid probably can make a living off of this.


Stupid idiot.

After seeing the cube shop and cringing, I realized that I had straight up four hours of free time, since I didn't make any finals or any of that.

So I decided to check out this place called GamesofBerkeley.

Then we went to my sister's dorm. I chilled I guess by binge-watching domics on her laptop and playing Pokemon GO. I lured up the stop.(MY SISTER LIVES ON A POKESTOP AHHHH)

Then after a while me and my sister played cards, waiting for the Lakers game to start.


Then we watched the Lakers game till 5:07 or something. They were doing trash against the Magic. They had a strong start, but began to turn the ball over and fall behind.

Since I was group 3 in skewb, it was fine to be a bit late.

We packed up, then started heading towards the comp again.

Bang. Just burned four hours.

And skewb was honestly pretty good.

I got like 12, 17, 9, 7.5, 14. Pretty good I guess.

The results didn't come out yet, so I don't know my averages and stuff, I just remember the times a bit.

Will be putting a thing about the goals and stuff here when the results come out.


Now let's do the comparison thingy(told ya I wouldn't forget)

Fall(2018)

1. clean
2. no windows
3. decent bathrooms
4. kind of a cubing store, competitor-run
5. Okay management
6. Smells nice
7. More than enough stations
8. No one in this competition(I mean Chris Yen is kinda famous) :(

Summer(2018)

1. clean
2. windows
3. decent bathrooms
4. NO CUBING STORE AT ALL
5. honestly, pretty bad management
6. Smells nice
7. more than enough stations
8. Max Park in this ocmpetition

Fall(2017)

1. clean
2. windows
3. nice bathrooms
4. awesome cubing store 
5. great management
6. smells nice
7. lots of stations
8. Max Park and Chris Tran in this competition

Summer(2017)

1. Dirty
2. No windows
3. Dirty and icky bathrooms
4. Very poor managed cubing store. I could literally steal a cube from the store if I wanted
5. Very bad management
6. Smells absolutely disgusting
7. Only a couple of stations making the waiting time very slow
8. Henry Helmuth in this competition

Lyric(s) of the Post:Breathing, leave it all behind

I just wanna see the light

Light – San Holo