Student's Outlet

Hi everyone! I would like to introduce to you my brother, Durben Joun S. Virtucio. He is…

THIS BOY!

• 12 years old
• First Year High School student
• Food/Pizza Lover
• a very hardworking and patient student
• a loving son
• a pianist
• .. last but not the least a CUBER.

A year ago, February, 2009, I bought my friend’s Rubik‘s Cube and brought it here in our house.

According to wiki,

The Rubik’s Cube is a 3-D mechanical puzzle invented in 1974 by Hungarian sculptor and professor of architecture Ernő Rubik. Originally called the “Magic Cube”, the puzzle was licensed by Rubik to be sold by Ideal Toys in 1980 and won the German Game of the Year special award for Best Puzzle that year.

In a classic Rubik’s Cube, each of the six faces is covered by 9 stickers, among six solid colours (traditionally white, red, blue, orange, green, and yellow). A pivot mechanism enables each face to turn independently, thus mixing up the colours. For the puzzle to be solved, each face must be a solid colour.

• First reason why I gain interest again in this puzzle is when I saw this movie, Pursuit of Happyness, which is a true to life story, wherein this man got his chance of having a permanent job because his boss can’t solve that Rubik’s Cube puzzle, and he has done it and the boss was impressed.
• Second reason, ever since I was a child too, I haven’t solved this kind of puzzle yet. Well, in my time, I don’t have internet, nor have any resources how to solve this kind of puzzle.
• Lastly,this is really really popular at that time. Everytime I will go to Toys ‘R Us (either at Trinoma or Robinsons Galleria) it is always out-of-stock. So, I was curious.

When I came home, I gave it to him. 30 minutes after, he was shouting that it was really easy to solve. Then, I was shocked! :D My thoughts began circling thinking that “11 year old boy can’t solve this thing.. How come he solved it?” then, he told me his secret.. He watched a very popular tutorial video at Youtube. (Here’s the link: 1, 2.) After that time, he began researching for algorithms on how to solve common patterns easily. He began watching videos after videos, printed a lot of algorithms and patterns to be memorized, downloaded different timer programs with random generation on scrambling the cube.

These are his cubes.

(L-R, T-B: Megaminx, Revenge Cube, V-Cube, Mini Pocket Cube, Rubik’s Cube, V-Cube, Irregular Cube, Professor’s Cube, and the Pyraminx)

He began playing all these cubes, saying that even and odd number cubes have same patterns under them. Basically, it’s forming a cross on your chosen first layer.. and then solving way up considering every patterns, every shortcuts and every skips you might have.

That was the time, I saw a talent lying on his fingers (very fast) and recognized his photographic memory (memorizing a lot of algorithms). He began joining National Competition by himself with our support.

For the last one and a half year until now, everyday, he always has his cubes and timer by his side. He continuously practices to improve his speed, to never forget the algorithms and every pattern he memorized, and to become a natural cuber.

As of today, he is the current National Record Holder of Rubik’s Cube with a time of 8.78 seconds on single solve, and 12.19 seconds on average of 5 solves and Revenge Cube with a time of 45.68 seconds on single solve and 52.50 seconds on average of 5 solves.

Here is an image of his current records, as of October 3, 2009:

Here is an image too of his improving time from the 3 competitions he had joined:

*You could view his entire record in this link.

Here are some pictures taken from the competition he joined:
With his Revenge Cube record

With our father, Benjamin B. Virtucio, Jr. at Cebu Open 2009

*Unfortunately, we don’t have a picture of him with his Rubik’s Cube National Record only with the Revenge Cube, but you could visit his site in Youtube for more videos of him.

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And now he is entering the world stage…

The World Rubik’s Cube Championship 2009 is the 5th World Championship and will take place on October 9/10/11, 2009 in Düsseldorf, Germany. It is open to competitors from all countries of all ages.

Durben is traveling with our father, Benjamin B. Virtucio, Jr.

At first we were having second thoughts as to whether he’ll be participating or not because everytime we talk about this competition, 3 problems always arise: time, money and visa.

• First is time. The said competition would be held October 9/10/11, 2009 which isn’t exactly a good time for us students. Final exams are usually scheduled in this month, so we, his siblings, can’t accompany him to Germany. Our parents don’t exactly have time for this because of the demand of their jobs. Renewing passports, applying for visa and looking for sponsors really take up a lot of time. But sacrifice is really needed. We have seen Durben’s talent so we can’t afford to have it wasted. We want him to shine on top. At least for him, he has no problem because he has all the time in the world and we know, with this experience, he would learn at aspire for greatness.
• Second is money. We can’t afford alone all his traveling expenses and accommodation there considering that they have a very much high cost of living. So, I would like to thank our sponsors:

  

  First is iRemit. iRemit is committed to serving Filipinos everywhere in the world through its modern and efficient remittance facilities. iRemit ensures fast and accurate delivery to remitter’s beneficiaries in the Philippines. Its network continues to grow through its offices and partners in different parts of the globe.

  They sponsored all the accommodations and travel expenses

  Second is National Bookstore. National Bookstore is the largest bookstore chain in the Philippines.

  

  Our purpose is to serve our customers with tools that enrich their minds and improve skills to ensure their success. All our efforts are concentrated to serve this purpose. We provide the largest selection of products and services, reaching more customers through our growing branch network, and spreading the love of reading and learning through our advocacy and community campaigns.

  Our vision is to build a thousand knowledge centers in the Asia-Pacific region by 2025.

  Our core values are: having Malasakit, being Innovative, having Dignity in what we do, being Service-Oriented and striving for Excellence and working as Team. Having this MINDSET is key to our success.

  Durben with Mrs. Socorro Cancio-Ramos

  

  Durben demonstrating his abilities in front of the staff of NBS, Main office

  NBS sponsored a certain amount of money for incidental costs and other expenses to be incurred in the future.

  Finally, to Mr. Danilo Duncano, a family friend, without him every sponsors we have will be nothing. Thank you for the time, the sacrifices and the help you’ve given us. Thank you very much!

• Lastly, Visa. We didn’t exactly had problems applying for this considering that we have an invitation for Durben to participate. So, the process went smoothly.

We’ve seen Durben’s potential. He has talent and he could be on the top of the world. Let’s support him.

*requesting media coverage for this said event.