Cubester Paradise

I forgot to mention a very important event in my life, probably one of the most exciting things I have ever witnessed. Of course I am talking about the International Rubik's Cube competition held at the Exploratorium in San Francisco.

If you have never been to a Rubik's cube competition, I highly HIGHLY recommend it. There are lots of different events (something for everyone!) including the 5x5x5, 4x4x4, 3x3x3, "magic stick", "pyramix", 3x3x3 "one-handed" and 3x3x3 blndfold. Not only did I feel like the coolest person there, I got to meet a lot of new friends including:

Ellery: his social skills could use some work and at first we thought he wasn't that cool. Then he solved the "Pyramix" in 5.68 seconds and shot up about a million points in my book (also in Molly's. I explained to her that this is part of the "speed goggles" phenomenon)

Tom: Though wearing an "Addicted to the Cube" t-shirt, he claimed that he "just wasn't that into Rubik's cubes. I think he was trying to impress us. Ha. if he REALLY wanted to impress us he should have spent more time practicing the Pyramix.

Danny: an eleven-year old cube phenom who was a real crowd-pleaser. Molly and I have higher standards than the average cube competition-watcher, though, so we weren't that impressed. (I could do that when I was ten!)

"David" (can't remember if that's actually his name): He goes to stanford! He's big (and I mean BIG) in the cubing world (he's probably in all the magazines, I have GOT to subscribe). The officials running the event made sure that he was last (best for last, you know) and when it was his turn the crowd gathered around to watch. While his average solve time wasn't amazing, he did do a single 10.00 second solve!!! (It wasn't a world record, though, as some guy in Germany has done a sub-ten). I'm holding out for a world record holder.

Others: a "cubester couple" who worked on their cubes together, a guy who looked exactly like wolverine (his hair alone said a lot), some extreme cubers who brought a giant plastic tub of about 60-70 cubes (I'm not making this up!), a kid with one hand who did surprisingly well in the one-handed division, some bros who were surprisingly good at the cube.

I will just say that I love going to the Rubik's cube competition because in a sense, it's sort of like a cross country meet, or a regatta, or any other type of event in which the really hard-core enthusiasts come out of the woodwork. I will say, though, that it's probably a good thing the cuber's don't wear unis.

In other news, my brother wrote a Christmas carol to the tune of "Santa Claus is Coming to Town:

You better watch out
You better be shy
Better run out
I'm telling you why
FBI/USA/CIA is searching Iraq

They're pretty pissed
Your head has a price
They're gonna find out who’s gonna get knifed
FBI/USA/CIA is searching Iraq

They hear him when he’s talking
They’ll search when he’s awake
They want you to be dead and gone
You should run while you still can

O! you better watch out
Better be shy
Better run out I'm telling you why
FBI/USA/CIA is searching Iraq
Osama should be running from town