Well, today is the competition. I am excited, nervous, hopeful and scared all at the same time as I walk into the venue.
I sit in the waiting area until I hear my name called for 3x3. I walk up to the folding table and sit down in the folding chair, a cube cover concealing the scrambled puzzle, placed on top of a mat with a hand timer, in front of me.
The judge sitting next to me asks if I’m ready. I take a few deep breaths to calm myself down, assuring myself that “I got this, I got this,” and finally answer him with a “yes”.
He pulls off the cube cover and starts his stopwatch to count my inspection time.
I swiftly grab the cube and look for the cross pieces, my heart beating quickly.
The scramble doesn’t look all that great, but I have to start the solve since my inspection time is running out; the judge already called out the eight and twelve-second marks.
I place my hands on the timer, then take them off to start it, and I pick the twisty puzzle up. I execute the moves I had planned and go for the rest of the solve, nothing seeming too lucky but not terrible either.
I finish the solve and quickly put my hands on the timer to stop it. My first official time of 5.22 seconds is a pretty good one, but not exactly on pace to beat the world-record average of five of 5.09 seconds set by Feliks Zemdegs.