# data[].attributes.body
So this week I finished my intro to 2 look last layer video. I made the subtitles for it as well as the subtitles for all my other videos (which was THE SINGLE MOST BORING THING IN ALL OF EXISTANCE). For the subtitles, as well as putting the algorithm names in there like I said last blog, I had to put in the actual algorithm for the whole time I was explaining it (explaining the algorithm, not case recognition; they are two different things). For the video, I had to record it like 3 times (I actually stopped when I messed up for the first two, so it wasn’t really fully 3 times of recording) on top of practicing about 3 times as well. I can’t really practice an “about” number of times, so the reason I say about is because I don’t really remember exactly how many times I did it (and possibly because it’s more words : D). So, in my video, I explained what 1 look OLL and PLL are, my system for naming OLL cases, some of my algorithm notation (parentheses, braces, and brackets). Thanks word for recognizing that parentheses isn’t parenthases like I thought. Word and I have a very interesting relationship totally not because 50% of its colored lines below words are things I don’t care about, which is annoying. It does help sometimes though. On task, next I have to add the descriptions and plan my TED talk (which I don’t really know much on what I’m going to do yet). The descriptions are easy (easier) than the subtitles because I can watch the video at 2x speed because I don’t need to pay attention to the exact time of the video. For the time stamps, I can just look at the subtitles to mark where each part starts. Mrs. Peel, why do we have to have this and the allegory project at the same time? : ( To me, I don’t know how I would have been able to procrastinate (yay, I spelled it right) on this project because I’ve been doing some work (not all at the same concentration though) the whole time. Also, never mind, I can use the word space on my next blog, lol

# data[].attributes.body
This week I finished all but one of my videos. The one I still need to make is my introduction to CFOP last layer. It will basically talk about what the two parts (OLL and PLL) are and then basically describe my algorithm notation, (should that be a semicolon?) for example: what brackets mean. I will actually be using my 2x2 cube to show the different corner OLL cases. I wonder how people will react to my corner case names. I have added subtitles and descriptions for some of my videos, but not all of them. Next, I think I will be working on adding subtitles, and then the descriptions. Adding subtitles is actually pretty boring because I have to sit through the whole video and pay attention to whenever I start talking about a new algorithm because whenever I do, I have to put a 2.5 second long subtitle of the name of it (because that’s what I decided is good). For the videos (because I want to have something to talk about next blog), I did 12 this weekend (6 each day) and that was also kind of boring because it was basically sitting at my table where I do my recording in my room with the door closed and practicing each video either 2 or 3 times and then recording it 1 to 3 times depending on how good I did. Then I upload a couple to YouTube and take a break to watch Fortnite videos. Wow, Microsoft Word also recognizes that Fortnite isn’t Englishly (: D) correct either. It’s really funny because I actually gave up last weekend on trying to get good at Fortnite and deleted the game yesterday because I’m super trash at it. Anyway, back on topic, just kidding; I said everything, lol. Actually, I can say how I hope my viewers look in the description and find out that they have to turn on subtitles because I only have a verbal reminder on 3 of my PLL videos and none of my OLL videos to do that. Okay, now I'm done.

# data[].attributes.body
This week I started making my videos. I made a total of 11 videos. I made 2 of 4 of my “other” category, which consists of pro tips, how to read cube notation, intro to CFOP (the solution method) last layer, and Adjusting U Face. I have finished my 9 PLL videos and I will work on all of my OLL videos (I have 11) and my other 2 from the other category. I will have my table of contents attached. My throat was actually kind of dry for one of the videos, so I had to edit out some coughing. I also had to cut several mistakes on my last video (which was probably the hardest to make) as well as adding a table to the end of it. I added a table because in the video, I explain 4 algorithms that are similar and different in a periodic way. The table shows the differences and similarities between some of the parts of the algorithms. It stunk making the last two videos, because, when I edited them, I had to save the new edited video on my phone, delete the old one, and then move the new one to the micro SD card I got for my phone. I hope that my videos will be easy to understand for others, because my dad was actually telling me that there was a lot of terminology that he didn’t know and that I might as well be speaking in Chinese. Since my audience is intermediate cubers, I think they will know most of it. If not, I don’t think it will be that hard to look in the description to memorize a 4 move trigger (easy to memorize sequence of moves to break algorithms into) or to look at my cube notation video. Even if my videos aren’t super easy to understand, I think it’s better than the tutorials I’ve seen on the internet that basically just do the moves and tell you to break it down yourself. This has made me think about that even though I may teach really well, it can still be hard because of how much there is to learn. Making my videos also made me think about how teaching is a pretty hard thing to do.

# data[].attributes.body
This week I learned the AUF for all of the PLL cases. I can tell that you’re like “What in the world is that!?” so I will tell you. It stands for adjust U face. The U face is the top face of the cube (U stands for up [whoa! OMG!]). It basically is whenever you see you PLL, you look at what the color of one or more of the pieces in that case (depending on which case it is) and determine whether you have to move the top to the left, right, twice, or no times based on the relationship between the color of the piece(s) on the top layer and the color of the bottom 2 layers on the front face (the one you are looking at). It is basically so you don’t have to spend 1 or 2 seconds at the end of your solve looking and thinking what way you have to turn the top because of the fact that you are thinking about it while you are doing the PLL algorithm. Since you should have the algorithm in mostly muscle memory, you should have to only dedicate the slightest part of your brain to thinking about it and be able to think about what to do with the info you absorbed before you started your PLL algorithm. If this seems complicated, there is also something called F2L (First 2 layers) look ahead in which you look for other pieces and try to think of your next mini algorithm rather than only one or two moves like AUF look ahead. For me, AUF is actually not that hard. The hardest part is probably forgetting to do the look ahead in your solve, so you’re doing your PLL algorithm and you’re like “Oh wait! I forgot to look at what I’m going to do next! That’s a #MegaRIP!”

# data[].attributes.body
So, this week, I finished learning my OLL algorithms. I learned the L edge cases. There are more L cases because the corners can make their shape facing left while the edges can face 4 different directions at the same time. Cross cases have one variation. Dot cases also only have one. Rod cases have two. L has 4 as I just said, although the rectangle and solved corners are exceptions. The solved corner orientation only has one case for each edge orientation (cross with solved corners is the goal) and the rectangle one has one for the bar edge case and only 2 for the L edge case because of the fact that spinning the top layer 180 degrees will have leave the corners remaining exactly the same. You can look at my corner chart from earlier if you want to. This project is actually approaching the deadline a lot faster than I thought it would. I only have the AUF (adjust U face, which I will explain) to learn for the easy stuff. I call it easy stuff because, in my opinion, the video making will be harder. Especially the first couple. I hope I will get used to it. I think I will change my project goal to be teach a “more efficient last layer” rather than an easier way to learn “2 look last layer” (just the OLL and PLL algorithms). I think my first video will be a pro tips video. Saying pro kind of reminds me of how, in class, we said people later will not understand our language like we do. Also, I have 2 sets of underlines phrases for bad clarity from word. Great job word for alerting me about something I don’t care about (because I think it’s fine).

# data[].attributes.body
Now I am finally back to where I am supposed to be with my writing. I am writing about this week and last week. I learned the cross cases and dot cases last week and I learned the bar cases this week. I will have a visual for the edge cases, because that’s how I’m organizing them. I noticed I have some typos in my Quizlet. It’s kind of annoying because what happens, is that I have to look at my PowerPoint (stupid word making me capitalize point) and test the algorithm. I sort of realized that my PowerPoint isn’t organized in the best way (which is why I’m learning off of my Quizlet instead). If the error is from the source to the PowerPoint, I have to go to my sources and basically re-copy it. Some of the algorithms, I copied from testing combinations of easy triggers and finding which case they solved. I’m going to have a pro tips video that includes a recommendation to learn these triggers because they REALLY help break algorithms down into more easy-to-memorize parts. They are all sets of four moves. I named them: Exit, Insert, Sledgehammer (this name actually came from the internet), Side Hammer, Shifter, and rShift (short for reverse shifter). Also, I sort of found that the Sune and Anti-Sune algorithms are used in some other algorithms. I also have seen that some cases are done from the back right instead of the front left so that they can be solved with the right hand. I realized that and I was all like “OMG that’s so genius!”

# data[].attributes.body
So, I learned all of the PLL algorithms now. I also made some changes to the picture I posted. I also don’t understand why word is saying “all of” is incorrect. What I did is learn the edge PLLs first. That means that I learned the four where only the edges are misplaced and all of the corners are fine. Since most of the algorithms matched up, I watched the actual tutorial video for most of them. I noticed as I learned by doing the algorithm (because the notation was on the screen) like two or three times, and then I did it while looking at it partially and analyzed what I was doing. I looked for patterns to break them down in my head. It also got easier to learn stuff after the first several. At the end, I was able to learn two algorithms at once with a little time. Also, some of the perms (short for permutations) had the same name. The biggest example is the G-Perms. There are G[a], G[b], G[c], and G[d]. They were actually named in an order that didn’t make sense, so I renamed them G-Perms 1, 2, 3, and 4 and reordered them in a way that made sense. I can show you in class since I’m sure you have no idea what I mean. I that reminds me of the changes I made to the picture. One of the people in one of my classes who knows how to solve a Rubik’s cube and learned all of the PLLs made fun of me because I didn’t know the “official names” for them. The spiral cases in the picture actually have the technical names of “sune” and “anti-sune”, so I decided to use those because they are kind of iconic and a lot of cubers know them as that and I don’t want either my viewers to be made fun of, or my videos to be trash talked because of that, which would encourage people to not watch it, even though my main goal is just to help people learn. New picture below.

# data[].attributes.body
So, I started with a plan that included some work every week, including spring break and the week before, so this is really week 5 for me since I decided to work during those 2 weeks. What I did on the first week of blog absence (Week 3) was make a Quizlet for all the OLL algorithms. I made a Quizlet for all the OLL algorithms and not PLL because for OLL, there are just so many cases that are super similar to each other that I wanted a more precise way to learn it. I am most likely going to include it as a part of my product as well. It turns out that you have to pay 20 dollars to add images to Quizlet, so I still had to use words to describe the case. I had the case as the term and the algorithm as the definition if you couldn’t figure that out yet. I labeled the cases by the shape they make on the top, then a short list of where there are any double or triple blocks on the sides, and then a direct “coordinate” reference. In parentheses, I put what shape the corners make, and then a comma, and then what shape the edges make when the corner picture is in the default position (I made a slide on in my PowerPoint of all the default positions for the 8 corner cases). For the algorithms, I listed the algorithms in cube notation, and then put what direction the corners should be in while executing the algorithm. I pretty much wrote only about week 3, but I will write about my PLL learning (Weeks 4 & 5) next week, and then write about my OLL learning twice since there are 3 weeks of it so I can catch up with my blogging while still writing about each part of my project. I will have an image attachment of the slide if you are curious. I made them myself in Microsoft Paint lol.

# data[].attributes.body
This week, I used the sources that I found last week and compared the algorithms for each individual case. I used algorithms that I thought best in my PowerPoint. I used PowerPoint because, to me, it is much easier to move stuff around in it. With PLL, there are 21 unique cases, so I could just put “name – algorithm” on the PowerPoint. For OLL, it was different. There are 4 possible edge orientations plus 8 different corner orientations that I could have. For edges, there can be either a dot, L, rod, or a cross. For corners, I won’t mention them because I think I already got the message across that there are a lot of cases. Many of those cases are similar, so I will have to make a Quizlet for myself and eventually others to help me learn without confusing myself. I will do that next week. In my PowerPoint, I organized my OLL cases sort of like a set of points, or a dichotomous key (I did use spell check for that). I have a slide for the cross and dot (on same slide). I have one for the rod shaped edge cases. Lastly, I have a slide for the L shaped cases. Within the slides, I have sections for the corner type. For the rod  edge cases, the corners can be facing left and the rod can be horizontal or vertical. The L cases have 4 variations. In the sections I have the individual cases listed by their edge position and then their corner direction held in the position you’re supposed to solve it in.

# data[].attributes.body
I looked up an index of all the different move types possible on the cube in written form. I made a plan of what I am going to be doing each of the 13 weeks of the project and wrote it down on a paper. I looked up some sources on both OLL and PLL. For PLL, I got one YouTube video and two websites. I actually used more sources for OLL, which included 3 YouTube videos (2 were part of the same tutorial) and 3 different websites. One of my OLL videos is a video of the algorithms that what I and many other people consider to be the world’s fastest cuber uses in his solves for that step. His name is Feliks Zemdegs and is one of the world record holders of the 4.59 second Rubik’s Cube solve (someone else also has that time). I also found a slightly more in depth tutorial from someone else, but it is kind of disappointing that no one actually has a tutorial that is what I consider to be “in depth”. What I am trying to do in my project is to create a video that satisfies my want for a good video on advanced stuff to be out there. I am good at memorizing things, so learning from writing and little explanation will not be that hard for me, but as I tought my family, I realized that not all people share that with me. Rubik’s Cubes are things that I can use my skill with in a way that I like, because my ability to learn easily is not valued much because all people generally want is synthesis of stuff to make others’ lives easier.