Simon has kicked the year off with a 3×3 pb on New Year’s Eve and three new cubing competitions, in Cambridge and Lexington, MA and in Bristol, Connecticut.
The Cambridge competitions are low key in the sense that they take place at one of the competitors’ home, but don’t be fooled: the crowd showing up is a group of top rank local cubers. These regular comps mostly include the fewest moves and blindfolded events, i.e. the most concentration intensive events that require absolute silence and provide for the best exercise of that brain muscle (just kidding, I’m aware that brain isn’t a muscle!)
The Battle of Lex-side-ton 2023 in Lexington, MA was a larger competition but also run by Cube New England, just like the above mentioned Cambridge jams.
It’s a pleasure to see familiar faces at every comp, and I don’t even have to mention the level some of these people have achieved (world champions walking among us). Independent of anyone’s level, the main reason Simon enjoys these gatherings is to socialize. He says he hasn’t laughed this much in a while already.
At the competition in Bristol, CT that was called Mum’s the Word, Simon had his first official 3×3 Blindfolded attempt (unsuccessful this first time, but he is going to continue trying). By the way, it’s amazing how silent kids can be when they have this mutual agreement that it’s necessary for a meaningful purpose, and not because someone is trying to force something upon them.
A collage describing which puzzles Simon prefers and which he likes less:
On a side note, we have also learned a couple new things just from the names of the comps: for example, that Lexington was where the American Revolution started and that the Battle of Lexington only lasted a few minutes. Or that Mum’s the Word is a quote from Shakespeare and means “silence”.
Geeks out of the box 