I don't know WHY I can type two paragraphs about this, but I can. It seems to me like:

To people who are new to the Cube and/or only care about solving it for its own sake, it's all about repeating patterns (or "algorithms", as they're called) every time you reach a "checkpoint". You want to get the Cube to "this" position, so you repeat a pattern with specific pieces (ex. the corner pieces) until you get there. The you need a different pattern with different pieces to get to "that" position, and so on and so on until BAM, it's done!

Experts seem to have a better understanding of patterns than most. They take it a step further and look like they take the whole cube into account instead of focusing only on the stuff needed for patterns. This allows them to improvise and find shortcuts outside of the suggested solution. It's really freaky because this results in my friends speed-solving it in, like, 15 seconds. (They were aiming to beat the current world record too. >_>)

So I've solved it before, but only in the sense that I stuck to the suggested patterns until I got to the end, at which point the Cube was somewhat therapeutic for me. But right now I can't remember the patterns for the life of me, so... blehhh. >_<