BERNETT IN JAPAN (26th june to 31st june)
Dear Cubers,
At the outset, let me thank Ron uncle and Mr.Masayuki Akimoto for making it possible. We got visa to visit Japan so easily without appearing for the interview. Thanks a lot to Japan Consulate in Madras.
Trichy to Japan :- We started by train as early as 6am on 25th June. It was a 6 hours journey by super-fast train from trichy to madras. After 12 hours wait in Chennai , we took our flight from Chennai on 25th June late night and reached Bangkok(Thailand) on 26th early morning. It was a 3 hours 15 min journey. They threw away the new silicone spray can and did not allow us to carry. I felt very bad. We transited in Bangkok to Tokyo. It was 6 hours journey. The best flight I have travelled so far.
Tokyo :- We reached Tokyo on 26th June at 3 PM. The moment we came out of the flight, we found a Japanese holding the placard – Bernett & John welcome to Japan. In fact, he is one of the TV crews of FUJI TV in Japan. He told us they are waiting for us near arrival gate and ran away very fast. We cleared immigration and custom in just 5 min and we walked out of the exit gate. We were welcomed by Fuji TV and interviewed by them. There was a English translator for the interview. Then they took us to our hotel in their big van. In the hotel, they interviewed me again and asked me to perform blindfolded. I did it in 3 min 48 sec and 2 min 47 sec. Once they left after the interview, we had our food in McDonalds. We were staying in TOKYO INTERNATIONAL HOSTEL which is in 19th floor. Our room mates were Jan Los(Mech.engr from Delft University of Technology), Adam Maurice from German, Fumitaka Wataya from Japan. We introduced ourself to them and went to bed immediately.
27th June 2007 :- We woke up leisurely and had our breakfast in the hostel. Again, you know, the problem is what to eat and how to eat. The culture was totally different and food was altogether different. Hence I had only bread butter and egg. This was my only breakfast for all 5 days eventhough many varieties were available.
We chatted with Jan for some time and we were sent out of the hostel room at 11 am. So we went to Hostel Lobby and I practiced there till 3 pm. Then we had lunch and went to sleep immediately.
At 6 Pm we were ready for the arrival of Mr.Oliver Gaucher(French cubist) who lives in Tokyo. Yes, he was there exactly at 6 pm. After formal introduction, we started cubing and racing till 10 pm. I hit lot of 110 to 120 sec in 555, sub 60 sec in 444 and sub 16 sec in 333. He gave me some finer tips. I have to improve a lot to catch him. He narrated how he used to practice with Jon Pons and Eduourd Champon(sorry for the mistakes in spelling). The two of the few areas I have to improve is my fingering and reducing the change of number of grips. I am happy that he has promised to help me improve in both the areas. Remember he was the last year Japan Open 2006 Champion in 555. After a long sharing we had food together in McDonalds and he left from there.
28th June 2007 :- We woke up early and were ready to go to Japan Open 2007 championship. Fuji TV had organized transport for us from the hostel to venue and back. Thanks a lot to them. Once we reached venue, Mr.Masayuki Akimoto welcomed us and we felt at home. There were so many kids cubing. I felt very comfortable. After registering we entered into the venue which was very grand. We handed over all our cubes to the organizers and were seated. They refused my 222 eastsheen cube and 555 rubiks cube(for many tiles were missing). So I had to settle with my slightly stiffer 555 cube(not yet fully seasoned) and a new 222 cube. Everyone was talking in Japanese which I could not understand. Meanwhile Mr.Oliver joined us. We were introduced to Mr.Katsu who is a great and highly respected person.
333 speed selection round :- I did my first solve in 14.xy sec and second solve in 15.xy sec and placed third.
333 speed semi finals :- I did my first solve very well in 15 sec. When I was solving my second solve I realized it was not my speed cube. By mistake they gave me my 333 OH cube.(In Japan you have to use different cubes for 333 speed, 333 OH and 333 BLD). For next 10 min there was bit confusion. But, finally they cancelled that solve and asked me to continue my second speed solve. I was in tension and I could not concentrate after that little drama and I finished that in 21.xy sec. Then, I regrouped my concentration and finished the semifinal avg as 15.97 sec and finished with 6th place. I was happy to be selected for the finals.
333 speed finals :- I know I had no chance, because my best is @15 to 16 sec. It was a treat to watch the fingering of Japanese cubers and the lonely Korean cuber Jeong-Min. It was fantastic to watch them banging the stop-watch in 10 to 13 sec. Again I finished 6th with an avg of 15.95 sec. They told me I am also good in F2L finishing it in 9 to 10 sec, but not fingering my OLL and PLL and taking time to recognize. I have no one to help me in this area in my place. But, still I believe I can practice myself and improve in this area.
444 selection round :- It is best of 1 solve. So I was worried, if I get double parity or if it pops. I went very fast and it popped very badly. I had to pick the pieces from the floor fix them up and continue solving it. During OLL I found it fixed wrongly. Then I had to take it out and fix it again correctly. Somehow, I finished it in 82.xy sec. Luckily, it was enough to reach the finals. In the finals I was standing next to Takayuki Ukusa and solving 444. I knew we 2 were going neck to neck. I had double parity 4 times and PLL parity once. I was very happy to finish second with the difference of just 0.22 sec! This was my first medal!!!
However, I did the fastest solve in Japan Open 2007 with a time of 58.22 sec and it is my personal best in an official championship.
333 blindfolded selection : - This is also best of 1 solve. So I took my time to go correct and finished it in 4 min 15.xy sec and that was enough to be selected in the finals. I had a pop also. Since I was going slowly, I could feel the pop and I just inserted the almost popped piece.
333 blindfolded finals :- Yes, I did both solves correctly in sub 3 min. the best was 2 min 43.xy sec. I have to improve my memorizing speed.( I never practiced bld for some months now). That put me in the 2nd place again. One more medal, yeah, I was happy.
333 OH :- 42.xy sec avg and 38.xy sec as best was a happy result for me. I will never have a long finger.
222 speed solve selection and finals :- I want to forget it as I did them in a brand new stiff cube.
555 speed selection round :- A cool 2 min 25.xy sec was enough to take me to final. Again it was best of 1 solve.
555 speed finals :- Again I was placed next to Takayuki Ukusa. He was amazing. I was so happy to have watched him so closely when he made the world record in both single and avg. My best 1 min 54.15 sec was also the result of a sort of inspiration I got by watching him so closely. Thanks a lot to him. He was very fast in edge pairing up which I have to improve a lot. The champion was untouchable in the event. But, the 2nd, 3rd and 4th position 2 min 6.00 sec, 2 min 6.17 sec, 2 min 6.87 sec was a ding-dong battle. I was unlucky not to win that race and finished 4th. Still it was fun to be on the race. Congrats to all winners. I enjoyed racing with them all.
There were lots of kids and their parents around and audiences as well. They also enjoyed every race with clapping, laughing, making oooh…aaah sound. In the selection process for any event best of 1 solve is very tough. In my opinion, in such situation, qualifying is tougher than winning the event. If there is best of 1 solve for selection, then pop may be considered for one more chance again if the pop is genuine. Then how to find pop is genuine. Hence atleast best of 2 solves should be considered for selection.
Cubers meet :- It was held on 29th July in Shinjuku Goyen Park. Mr.Masayuki Akimoto took us from the hostel to the Park. It was very friendly and enjoyable. I am longing to have such meeting in my place!! I discussed a lot with Mondo, the multiple cube blindfold champion. He taught me fingering of OLL and PLL. The Korean Champion Jeong Min was there. I saw different kinds of puzzles and tried my hand. The puzzle maker was also present. Many congrats to him! I had yet another unforgettable day in my life.
I
I solved a 333 cube without centers in 43.97 sec. It has parity!!!!!
Fuji Television :- My sincere thanks are due to them. They covered the blindfold events specially and telecast it on 7th aug 2007. They had even sent me a dvd of the episode. It is very nice. They covered Mondo in detail, me, my dad and Mr.Masayuki and few more Japanese blindfold cubers.
31st July to 3rd Aug :- I had a wonderful time in Bangkok with my dad’s friend and his family. I did two cubing demo also to a gathering of 50 executives in Nippon Steel company and 100 children and parents in a family get together. Bangkok is a wonderful tourist place. Body massage was excellent.
Conclusion :- At least in Japan, kids/children/junior category for Rubiks cube championship may be conducted considering the number of children there. So many children there solving cube very fast.
So far I have competed in 2 championships – Dutch Open 2006 and Japan Open 2007. Both were different in style and contrast to each other in many respect. Yet, both were enjoyable and Rubiks Cube Sport is great.
I am counting days to meet all cubers in Budapest!!!!!
Have fun(Courtesy Ron uncle) & Cheers(Courtesy Stefan uncle),
J.Bernett Orlando
MOTHERLAND to NETHERLAND
I thought of sharing my experience with you all. So far, I had only read others experience. Now, I think, it is my turn to share with you all.
THANKS TO RON UNCLE:- Since 17th dec 2005, I was looking forward to Dutch open-2006, because 17th dec 2005 was a turning point in my life. Ron uncle met me and my dad in Chennai, India on that day, taught me, trained me, motivated me and promised me that he will do all the needful to take me to Dutch open-2006. First of all let me thank RON uncle.
THANKS TO STEFAN MANUEL POCHMANN UNCLE:- He is the one gave me all sources of information, explained me many things and taught me blindfold solving methods of 333, 444 and 555. He is also a great source of inspiration to me. My sincere thanks are also due to Stefan uncle.
SHADOW CHAMPIONSHIP:- Both Ron uncle and Stefan uncle knew about it already. That is, whenever any Rubiks cube championship was held anywhere in the world, I used to conduct a shadow championship in my house itself. I mentally visualize a real championship. Thanks to my dad for his expertise on this area and training me to perform so well in the Dutch open-2006. Both Ron uncle and Stefan uncle kept on telling me and my dad, performing in real championsip under pressure is very difficult and my dad kept on telling me to use his - verbalise, visualize and emotionalise - phscological training methodology.
PREPARATION FOR DUTCH OPEN-2006 :- In fact, I could not prepare as much as I wanted to, because this year I had gone to high school, I have a lot to study in school and most of the time my dad was away, I was not motivated to practice cube because no one knows what it is. I feel, I really prepared well for the last year WORLD CUP-2005 in USA, but I was under prepared for this Dutch open-2006.
VISA TO THE NETHERLANDS :- All of you may be aware that visa was denied for us last year to USA to take part in WORLD CUP-2005. Hence we were worried too much and started preparing for it very early in may-2006 itself. At last we were given appointment to appear for visa interview on 28th sept 2006 in Bombay which is 2000 km away from my place. We travelled all the way up and down to attend the personal interview to get visa to go to The Netherlands. Finally, we were issued visa on 4th nov-2006 with the help of RON uncle. Again thanks a lot to him, because without him we would not have got visa.
08/OCTOBER/2006 :- We started from my house in Trichy as early as 8th sept early morning at 6 am to reach Chennai at 2 pm. We had booked our air ticket in Air France. As the flight was schedule 2 am next morning , it was 12 hours wait for us in Chennai. So we went to my aunti's house where we had a wonderful time with Ron uncle when he visited Chennai last year and spent 9 hours there before going to the air-port.
09/0CTOBER/2006 :- We checked in at midnight, but our flight was cancelled because there were only very few passengers booked in that flight for that day. We were put in another flight - American airlines "Delta" which is in association with Air France, but the flight took off only at 4 am(schedule time for Delta)) instead of 2 am. This flight was bound from CHENNAI to NEW YORK via PARIS. Hence, we missed our connecting flight from PARIS to AMSTERDAM. As it was 9 hours 30min non-stop journey from chennai to paris, we had a good sleep. We completed our immigrants formalities in Paris itself because Holland and Paris come under one visa(Schengen Visa). The Transit time was just only one hour. We arrived in Paris in F terminal and rushed to immigrants clearance before rushing to E terminal (15 to 20 min journey by airport bus)for security check up before boarding the flight to Amsterdam from Paris.
ARRIVED IN AMSTERDAM :- We safely arrived in Amsterdam at 2 pm local time. But, my watch showed me 17.30 hours. I came to know this part of Europe is 3 hours 30 min behind our time in India. I know, this is the first foreign contry I am visiting and I am quite excited. Holland is the place where most of Tamil(my mother tongue) film songs were shot. I have many times watched the flower gardens in Holland in Tamil cinema and I was feeling happy to watch them physically in person very soon. When I walked out of the airport I felt uneasy and butterflies in my stomach because I looked different from other people. I held my dad's hand and clinged to him. I think,my dad understood my feelings and told me "don't panic, people may look differnet but they are also same as any of your friends or people in India". But, I felt out of place until I met the custom officer on duty that day Mr.John Deb.........
CUSTOM CHECK :- When we walked past the custom office, saying nothing to declare, the custom officer wanted to scan all our luggages and scanned them and asked my dad to open one by one. In the first bag, he found all our cube puzzles. He was so excited and picked a 3*3*3 cube and asked my dad can you solve it? My dad replied that he can, but this fellow pointing to me, can solve very fast. Then he handed the cube to me and asked me to solve. When I was pre-inspecting he was getting ready to time my solve. I solved it in 15 sec and he shooked hands with me and told me that he was proud of me and he had never succeeded in solving it even once and whole heartedly said "YOU ARE WELCOME TO HOLLAND" and shook hands with me once again. After verifying our passport and visa he proudly showed his name plate, pinned in his uniform shirt, to my dad and said I am also John and smiled. Now, all my fear was gone and I felt most welcome. My thanks to the custom officer and his recognition for my cube solving skill.
RECEIECED BY TON UNCLE:- Ton uncle very easily recognised us in the arrival terminal-2 in Amsterdam Shiphol airport, because I was having a 3*3*3 cube in my hand. After formal introduction to each other, he drove us in his car to his best friend Ron uncle's house. Mrs. Monique Ron and Julia welcomed us whole heartedly and I felt very easy. I was very tired after a long journey and the climate was good, although very much cooler than our place. Ton uncle too was very friendly like Ron uncle and he was talking to us very freely and jovially as if he knows us very well. I was bit surprised when I realised that he knows a lot about me. I think Ron uncle might have told him. Thanks a lot to Ton uncle also. I have a lot more to tell you about him(plz wait). Ton uncle taught me some tricks in F2L. We had some sweets and coffee.
A GREAT EVENING IN RON UNCLE'S PLACE :- Ron uncle entered into his house exactly at 6 pm, as he had informed me. He welcomed both me and my dad with a big smile. I know what a hard work behind that big smile was there to take all of us to that moment of joy. Even at the end of the day he looked bright and was brisk. His house was wonderful, something uncommon in our place. The street outside were also beautiful and the surroundings were very quiet. I had never been in a quieter house than that in our place. At 7 pm, we had a delicious dutch dinner. Sorry, I can not name any of them and although I could not eat all of them (as we had food in the flight), it was delicious. But, my dad ate stomach full. Thanks to Monique aunti. (It was strange in The Netherlands to have dinner as early as 7 pm before the sun sets). Then started the race among Ron uncle, Ton uncle and me. I do not know, how long we cubed and raced, but it was all fun and learning. I need not say that most of the time Ron uncle won and now and then Ton uncle and me won the race. We raced a bit 4*4*4 and 5*5*5 also. This was my first experience in a stackmat. At last the race had come to an end at 10 pm. We parted and Ton uncle took us in his car to Zandvoort, where Ron uncle booked a hotel for us to stay till 13th oct. As soon as we entered into the hotel room, Ton uncle also departed and we went to bed very quickly.
10/OCTOBER/2006 :- I woke up very late. Even at 9 am, it was dark outside. Quickly I had my shower and as my dad was already ready when I woke up, we went to have breakfast at 9.45 am. At 10.30 am, we took train from Zandvoort railway station to Amsterdam. Outside the railway station, we were roaming in the shopping complexes until 4 pm. We had lunch in between. At 4.30 pm, we met Ron uncle near the exit of Amsterdam railway station. He took us boating in the river/canal. It was a long trip and enjoyed the beauty of Amsterdam very quietly. Before starting our boating we had cubing race in the boat also. Then we had our dinner in an argenitinian restaurant. Ron uncle taught me how to eat! Then we went to another restaurant- McDonalds, where we raced for more than an hour. At 9.15 pm we rushed to railway station(I had to run to keep pace with Ron uncle) where we parted and went back to Zandvoort and Ron uncle went back to his place. It was all fun racing with Ron uncle, wsn’t it for you ? (he often says what am I doing ?). He was giving me some tips also. I learnt a lot by racing with him.
11/OCTOBER/2006 :- Again, I woke up very late and quickly refreshed and had breakfast. Then we went to the barren Zandvoort beach. It was beautiful. But we could see only very few people in the beach. I think in Holland, almost everyone rears dog/dogs. We witnessed some of the antics of the pet dogs and enjoyed sharing with the visitors/tourists in the beach. At exactly 2 pm, Ton uncle picked us from our hotel. It was a new Ford car and Ton uncle was wearing a new shirt and was taking a new little friend(me) in it. He looked very happy. We had lunch in the seashore and went on to see the car race course in Zandvoort followed by a castle, Hollandam port and one of Ton uncle’s friends house. I think this is the first time, I travelled in a car speeding in 140 km per hour!!!! In between lots of cube racing was held between me and Ton uncle. We had our dinner(I think- kebblings) in Hollandam. Then we went back to Hotel, where Ton uncle learnt some memory techniques from my dad and Stefan’s method of solving 3*3*3 cube blindfolded and how to memorise the cube. As soon as Ton uncle left, we went to bed and had a good sleep.
12/OCTOBER/2006 :- It was a very cold, windy and rainy morning in Zandvoort. So we stayed inside and practiced some blindfolded solving and I practiced Pyraminx which I learnt from Ron uncle in his house on 9th oct. Then we went out for lunch once the sky was cleared and roamed in the streets of Zandvoort. It was such an unforgettable and wonderful experience for us. At 5 pm, we met Jaap uncle in the hotel lobby. He showed us some of his magic, puzzles, card tricks etc. It was all fun for me. Then we had dinner and Jaap uncle left to his place Delft.
13/OCTOBER/2006 :- We reached Delft Campanile Hotel at 1 pm. But sighted the Belgian cubers Gilles with his fellow cuber Joel and his mother at 6 pm. Then we met the Australian cubers Jasmine and Peter, then Stefan Pochmann and Constantine and French cubers etc. I got introduced to everyone and felt great to be among the greats. It was the day I was looking forward to meet fellow cubers.
At last, I met Stefan uncle whom I know very well for 2 years through internet. He taught me all basics and gave me lots of information about cubing. I shook hands with him and felt great. Perhaps he was the tallest and I am the shortest. I think, nothing went useful for anybody that evening except meeting each other
14/OCTOBER/2006 :- Yes, it is the first day of the championship. We were ready in the hotel lobby at 7..30 am where Ron uncle picked us up and drove us to the Delft University of Technology, the venue for for the dutch open-2006. In the car I met Davey who is neighbour of Ron uncle and another cube puzzle lover. The registration started exactly at 9 am as planned. Meanwhile the stage was all set for the day with lots of stackmats timer. I practiced in them with great joy. I felt great when I was solving with great cubers in the world.
RUBIKS CLOCK, RUBIKS MAGIC and RUBIKS MASTER MAGIC :- I have no idea of what all these and I have not seen any of them before. But I enjoyed watching others solving them so fast in different style. Well done Stefan, Alexander Ooms and Gilles.
PYRAMINX:- I just learnt it a couple of days before the championship. Ron uncle taught me the method of solving. I finished last with the avg of 32.xy sec and still I was happy about it.
2*2*2 POCKET CUBE :- I had never practiced this at home. But, I had already decided my methodology to solve it. I was feeling at home and concentrated on my cubing. I was also watching other great cubers performing. It was all fun again. Everyone has different method of solving and different style of fingering. I was hitting 7 sec and 8 sec everytime to finish with the avg of 8.06 sec. Wow! it put me in the 4th place of the European stars studded result list. Some of the fellow cubers patted me and I felt great. Ron uncle greeted me saying "I am proud of you Bernett".
SQUARE-1 :- I knew Lars and Michael Fung are the two world best in solving square-1. I had promised Ron uncle I will give both of them a scare in this puzzle. In my first solve I made a mistake in edge permutation and hence I had to do it almost twice and finished it with 50.xy sec. The second and 3rd solves, I did much better than the first time and finished with 27.xy sec and 31.xy sec. Finally the avg was 36.35 sec which was more than enough for me to be placed 3rd behind Lars and Michael. Again ron uncle greeted me saying "I am proud of you Bernett" and it was a new asian record!!!
3*3*3 ONE HANDED :- This also I had never practiced at home. Still, I was able to do it with an avg of 70.xy sec and finished 6th. Gilles did very well and I am motivated after watching him solving one handed so fast. I envy him because he has long fingers unlike me.
TEAM SOLVE :- I and Stefan uncle formed a team and discussed and tried a few solves before the actual championship. Stefan uncle told me he had never solved so fast with anybody else. But, I was confident that we could work together very well. Yes, we did very well in both the attempt with the time of 55.xy sec and 56.xy sec and finished second behind Joel Van Noort & Lars Van Denberg. I was elated when Stefan uncle raised both his arms up and celebrated our successful and fast solve. Hope he will team with me when we meet next time as well.
MEGAMINX :- I had never practiced this puzzle at home at all. My megaminx was very hard and is still very hard. I know solving it only by piece by piece method or one piece at a time method. Stefan uncle broke his own record with 1 min 23.xy sec single solve and 1 min 27.xy sec of avg. The record time of 1 min 23.xy sec solve was recorded by my dad in my video camera. Stefan uncle was jubilant when he broke his own record. I had decided to learn from him his method of solving megaminx. My hearty congrats to the TIGER OF MEGAMINX Stefan uncle.
3*3*3 RELAY :-As I did not register for this event, I could not compete. So I watched the event fully. I feel, this event could be made official. For me this event was more fun than anyother event. Ultimately Ron/Ton/Erik team won the relay very comfortably. The same kind of relay event could be conducted for 2*2*2, 4*4*4 and 5*5*5 cubes as well.
CURTAIN OF DAY-1 :- The first day events came to an end at @5.30 pm. I learnt a lot from every one and I enjoyed the whole day irrespective of my performance. Although, it was my first championship I finished 2nd in team solve, 3rd in square-1, 4th in 2*2*2, 6th in both megaminx and 3*3*3 one handed was a good result for me. At last, when we walked out of the hall, my dad patted me at the back and said well done Bernett. Then Ron uncle drove us back to the hotel in his car.
EVENING SHOW IN MCDONALDS :- We went to McDonalds for dinner at 7pm itself. Immediately after dinner, the cubing race started once again. This time it was among 5 people Ronb uncle, Ton uncle, Fredrick Badie uncle, Clement and me. The Mcdonalds was crowded and many people watched us cubing very fast group by group/ family by family and enjoyed. After a very long demonstration of cubing and racing we walked back to our hotel and slept very well.
15/OCTOBER/2006 :- It was the most exciting final day of Dutch open-2006. My aim for the day was to reach finals in all events. The stage was all set for the day in time and the first event 3*3*3 speed solving first round started exactly at 9 am as scheduled before.
3*3*3 SPEED SOLVING :- I did very well to get the avg 16.76 sec and finished 5th in the first round behind the European greats Joel, Ron, Lars and Stefan. It was most satisfying result for me as I got through to the 2nd round in my very first championship. In the second round, i.e, semi-finals, I did much better with an average of 15.66 sec and finished second behind Joel Van Noort. I could not believe my eyes when I saw the result in the notice board. In the finals, I was not able to concentrate after a long day after competing in all events of the day. But, it is not an excuse and I finished 6th with the avg of 17.00 sec. Still, I was happy about my result. I think my 15.66 sec avg in semi finals might put me in top-20 in the world in an offical world ranking. My official ranking and timing is much faster than my unofficial ranking and timing!!! Anybody else has such record ?
3*3*3 MULTIPLE CUBES BLINDFOLDED :- I tried 5 cubes and solved only 3 cubes perfectly in 87 min. I have to curse myself for the mistakes. The first cube was perfect. I used Ron uncles house as my journey to memorise the first cube. The second cube I used my school journey to memorise the cube. I just missed 2 corners not oriented properly. The 3rd cube was a very good scramble at the end!!! I used my house journey for memorising. I used this journey very frequently for memorising various things, everything was interfereing and hence I missed out this very badly. The fourth cube was perfect. I used Zandvoort beach and hotel where we were staying as journey for memorising this cube. The 5th cube was also perfect. I used Hollandam port, castle, car race course as journey for memorising this cube. My dad had advised me to use all new journeys which I preparedmyself in Holland for memorising the cubes. But, I took only 3 new journeys and 2 frequently used journeys. At the end of the event only I realised the importance of new/unused journeys to memorise the cubes. I felt very bad for not sticking to my dad's advice. (He told me after the dutch open -2006 in our postmortem there are 2 ways of learning - one is learning from mistakes and the second is learning from experts advise). Still, he patted me for solving 3 cubes blindfolded correctly.
Full marks to Constantine for solving all the 5 cubes perfectly in an hour and equalling Stefan uncle's record. His way of solving and memorising was fun. I still remember the way he memorised one of the cubes - HILLARY, GRACIA, JENNIFER CONNELLY, DIANA ......etc. His way of fingering was ridiculous. In fact, he was not fingering, instead he was palming the cube! Clement, from France tried just 3 and got all of them perfect.
My dad John Louis solved 8 cubes blindfolded. But he was unlucky to have missed just one cube. He solved 7 cubes perfectly. He missed just one and the mistake was - 2 edges not oriented properly. I am confident, he will try and succeed more cubes next time.
Bonnet, from France was also unlucky to miss just one out of 5 he tried. The mistake was just one corner pair not oriented properly. Jimmy Coll, from Belgium tried 6 and solved only 3 correctly.
4*4*4 SPEED SOLVING :- In all the first 4 solves I had either double parity or pops or both. I was very much disappointed with my avg of 80.xy sec. However, in the last solve, I neither had parity nor pop and hence the result was 61.xy sec. At the end of this event, I realised the importance of a good and exclusive cube for championship only.
5*5*5 SPEED SOLVING :- Again in this too I had too many pops. I did very badly. My best was 2 min 24 sec which is much below my normal standard time. With a better cube, I will try my best to do well in my next championship.
3*3*3 BLINDFOLDED :- I missed in the first attempt. So I had to do it with extra care in my second and the last attempt. I am aware, this is my first ever championship and if I fail in my second attempt too, then I can not become OFFICIALLY THE YOUNGEST TO SOLVE BLINDFOLDED. My time 3 min 55.xy sec was good enough to secure me the 4th place. Well done Jimmy, Clement and Gilles. My dad had to do it as soon as he finished his muliple cubes blindfolded event. I do not know why he did only once and did not try 2nd attempt and he took 13 odd min. I am happy for him too, because his name also will be in the official ranking list now.
3*3*3 SPEED SOLVING BY FOOT :- It was fun to watch, but I will not try this at all. Well done participants and winners.
PRIZE DISTRIBUTION CEREMONY :- Yes, finally, it was the time to honour the winners. It was simple yet fantastic. I received 2 trophies - one for farthest travelling and the second one as "special achiever". I must thank the organisers for honouring me with the special achiever award.
GOOD BYE :- Soon many cubers departed and Ron uncle took us to a chinese restaurant where we had our dinner with Ooms family, Ton uncle, Stefan uncle, Joel Van Noort, Clement, Constantine, Aruaud, Davey , Jean Louis mathias etc. Immediately after dinner, Ron uncle was the first to leave followed by Ooms family...... Then we went back to our hotel with Jean Louis and spent the rest of the time until midnight with Stefan uncle and Constantine.
MEETING WITH STEFAN UNCLE :- He taught me megaminx, magic, master magic and discussed few other points. I hope all this will help me to practice and prepare very well for the next world cup-2007. Next day morning we met again and went to McDonalds to have our breakfast and walked with him to Delft railway station discussing various topics, life styles, religion etc. Half way to the station, Stefan uncle realised he has to hurry to catch his train and he departed saying good bye.
NETHERLAND to MOTHERLAND AND HOME:- Finally, time has come to leave Holland. Jasmine Lee and Peter joined us on the way to Shiphol airport from where we departed to India enroute Paris. After 12 hours wait in Chennai and 7 hours train journey we reached our home on 18th oct 9 pm. It was a joyous momemt to be back in my moms lap after 11 days. She was so happy to receieve me and my dad.
HEALTH :- I did not have any health problem except running nose for all 10 days. It was a big nuisance.
CONCLUSION :- I experienced a lot, learnt a lot, met so many people etc. It was a wonderful experience for me. My Holland visit will be in my memory forever. I whole heartedly thank Ron uncle and Ton uncle for their friendly, affectionate support to us. My sincere thanks also due to Jaap uncle. Hope all fellow cubers enjoyed my presence in Dutch open-2006. Hope to meet you all again and again. Kindly excuse and pardon me, if I have done any mistake culturally or socially out of ignorance.
Thanking you
Have fun(copy right Ron uncle) & Cheers(copy right Stefan uncle)
I am thrilled to note that Mr.Brent Morgan has broken the 24 hrs cubing record. 3141 cubes. WOW. May be some one might break it on 3rd jan 41.
WELL DONE Mr. Brent Morgan.
I may try to break this record one day, if my cubing is continuous to be fun.
J.BERNETT ORLANDO
