Wow........Simon Reinhard has been working hard! Very impressive and congratulations to him for beating the still very impressive World Champion.
Like Ben, I have really got the competition bug and am really looking forward to the next UK competition. I've got my sights set on 200 digits in 5 minutes now. Not for the next event, but I've worked some times out and I don't think it will be long until I can do it. Over 300 though is just crazy!
..............................................
Didn't want to write a second post so tagging this on to the first! Just set a new personal best in the numbers:
110 digits in 5 minutes - No errors.
I memorised 120 quite comfortably but memorised a 57 instead of a 27 and ended up with 110 which is OK.
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Saturday, June 23, 2007
New personal best on 5 minute numbers
Using my new review system today I thought I'd have an official crack at my 5 minute number personal best. It is so much easier, and although it didn't go 100% according to plan (I had to check 8 digits on paper to make sure they were right) the end result was as follows:
108 random digits, memorised in 5 minutes, no errors.
It felt really quite easy and I'm looking at a realistic 120 with no errors in the next couple of weeks. I can relax so much more because I just keep going up to when the clock stops, no re-reading of anything.
108 random digits, memorised in 5 minutes, no errors.
It felt really quite easy and I'm looking at a realistic 120 with no errors in the next couple of weeks. I can relax so much more because I just keep going up to when the clock stops, no re-reading of anything.
Friday, June 22, 2007
Card reordering
I have been working today on the fastest way to reorder a deck of cards after they have been memorised. Those in the know will remember my annoyance at thinking I had a leisurely 10 minutes which turned out to be 5 minutes at Cambridge.
So, I memorised a deck as normal and got on to the ordering of the deck. I found the fastest way for me by a long way is to put the cards in front of me in strips i.e. all the hearts then in another line all the diamonds etc. and then pick the cards from that. The shuffling through the cards lost so much time it wasn't practical.
For the first time I managed to order a deck I had memorised previously in a little under 3:40 seconds which was satisfying. Enough time to go through again and spot any errors.
So, I memorised a deck as normal and got on to the ordering of the deck. I found the fastest way for me by a long way is to put the cards in front of me in strips i.e. all the hearts then in another line all the diamonds etc. and then pick the cards from that. The shuffling through the cards lost so much time it wasn't practical.
For the first time I managed to order a deck I had memorised previously in a little under 3:40 seconds which was satisfying. Enough time to go through again and spot any errors.
Monday, June 18, 2007
Germany this weekend
I'm going to be in Germany when the championships is happening! However, I will be 5 hours away at the Nurburgring so won't get to see any of it :(
I hope that Ben can go as I'm really keen to see how much his hard work has paid off.
I need to get my head down more before the UK Championships in July if I want to get moving up the rankings. I'm confident in the new ways I'm doing things which has involved changing the way I recall things mostly, not the actual memorising itself. Doing my first recall when I've filled one of my roman rooms in my head is working very very well and increasing my confidence greatly. I can picture being able to go through 2 rooms (80 digits or 40 cards etc) in one go and then doing a mental review of both rooms very soon and being accurate. So much of getting this right is about belief and trust. I'm learning now to see each challenge as a series of rooms for me to fill, not "oh my god! I've got to use 20 rooms for all of that!" and talking myself out of it.
Excited to see the results from Germany so roll on weekend :)
I hope that Ben can go as I'm really keen to see how much his hard work has paid off.
I need to get my head down more before the UK Championships in July if I want to get moving up the rankings. I'm confident in the new ways I'm doing things which has involved changing the way I recall things mostly, not the actual memorising itself. Doing my first recall when I've filled one of my roman rooms in my head is working very very well and increasing my confidence greatly. I can picture being able to go through 2 rooms (80 digits or 40 cards etc) in one go and then doing a mental review of both rooms very soon and being accurate. So much of getting this right is about belief and trust. I'm learning now to see each challenge as a series of rooms for me to fill, not "oh my god! I've got to use 20 rooms for all of that!" and talking myself out of it.
Excited to see the results from Germany so roll on weekend :)
Thursday, June 14, 2007
New Idea
I've not been posting a lot recently. I've been very busy with various things and memory training has fallen by the wayside. However, I did play around with a new idea I had based on my problems reordering a deck fast enough in Cambridge.
I had no problem remembering the cards, I just couldn't get them in order fast enough so I needed a new method. I've come up with a way which is much faster for me.
What I'm doing is memorising the deck as normal and then on the recall take each card one at a time and put it in place instead of going from the start and finding the first card. So, I'll go - Ace of hearts, near the end, 2 of hearts at the start, 3 of hearts just after that etc. until I've built up the basics of the deck order. I should end up with 26 pairs of cards that are basically in order then it's a simple matter of picking up the 26 pairs in order to build the complete deck.
My other idea was to take the first 26 cards and lay them out and then match the pairs in any random order then then put the whole deck together at the end based on the 26 pairs.
It's very hard to explain but I can move through the cards a lot faster this way and will be able to put the deck back together much faster I believe. I had a spare 5 minutes (literally!) before work this morning and memorised a quick 20 cards (1 room for me) and then flipped through an ordered deck to find the pairs and put the deck together as above. It worked really well.
I had no problem remembering the cards, I just couldn't get them in order fast enough so I needed a new method. I've come up with a way which is much faster for me.
What I'm doing is memorising the deck as normal and then on the recall take each card one at a time and put it in place instead of going from the start and finding the first card. So, I'll go - Ace of hearts, near the end, 2 of hearts at the start, 3 of hearts just after that etc. until I've built up the basics of the deck order. I should end up with 26 pairs of cards that are basically in order then it's a simple matter of picking up the 26 pairs in order to build the complete deck.
My other idea was to take the first 26 cards and lay them out and then match the pairs in any random order then then put the whole deck together at the end based on the 26 pairs.
It's very hard to explain but I can move through the cards a lot faster this way and will be able to put the deck back together much faster I believe. I had a spare 5 minutes (literally!) before work this morning and memorised a quick 20 cards (1 room for me) and then flipped through an ordered deck to find the pairs and put the deck together as above. It worked really well.
Saturday, June 02, 2007
Birthday tomorrow
It's my birthday tomorrow and I wanted to have one last rant whilst I'm still 27. I came to the conclusion last night that I hate most people. I was driving through town to pick my girlfriend up and was chased down the road by 2 pikey chavs shouting abuse at me! Of course, I stopped and put the car in reverse with the full intent to run them both over to teach them a lesson but thought better of it. I'm not sure if they would let me memorise cards in jail for 20 years.
On the way home, on the same corner, another guy yelled at the car again, this time with his top up exposing his lard. The only conclusion I can draw from this is that most people are shit and deserve to be hated until they can prove themselves worthy of being liked.
What happened to being nice and helping old ladies across the street and listening to their stories of how they rationed in the war? The youth of today........guilty until proven innocent I say.
I'm off to go and start random fights with people in hoodies for looking at my girlfriend, or if they didn't look at her, ask them why they didn't and start a fight anyway.
On the way home, on the same corner, another guy yelled at the car again, this time with his top up exposing his lard. The only conclusion I can draw from this is that most people are shit and deserve to be hated until they can prove themselves worthy of being liked.
What happened to being nice and helping old ladies across the street and listening to their stories of how they rationed in the war? The youth of today........guilty until proven innocent I say.
I'm off to go and start random fights with people in hoodies for looking at my girlfriend, or if they didn't look at her, ask them why they didn't and start a fight anyway.
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