I am down at high 17 as of this moment. I played slowly and had some losing streak. I was actually just high 15 last week. I'm not so sure what happened to my brain to get me to my current rating. 😅

Yes, they kinda actually affect my thinking in longer format games. Though I cannot really tell because I only play 3 minutes, and now bullet. I think getting creative in the bullet games can actually make you more creative in longer games. Bullet also improves your opening repertoire since it's like you're performing the spaced repetition system method in memorizing things. By playing more games in short amounts of time, I think (I'm actually realizing it now), the opening moves you found to fit your style, get more glued to your system. But I guess I should try playing 10-minute games to really know for sure. 🤔