Cubing for Fun

I call my self an ameteur speedcuber. I can solve the Rubik’s Cube (3×3x3) in an average of 1:30 (1 minute, 30 seconds). My best time recently has been 1:02. I do the cube everywhere. Sitting in the back of class at the end of a lecture, walking through the halls, at lunch, on the bus, at home, in the mall, anywhere. I solve the cube for fun, and I love the reactions I get from people. People I’ve never met will come up to me and be like “Can you solve that?” and I’ll say “Oh no way,  it’s way too hard.” But they’ll keep watching me, and when I solve it, they’re all “Oh my God!” And then they call their best friend: “Joe, come see this, this guy just solved this cube!” And then they mix it up and make me solve it again. It’s a great way to meet new people and start up conversations.

 In my freshman year of high school, there was this senior who did basically what I do now, he walked through the halls, everywhere, solving the cube. When he started up a cubing club at lunch, quite a few people joined. He gave us all a piece of paper with instructions on how to solve the cube. First, the white cross, then the corners, then the middle layer, then the yellow cross, then the placement of the corners, and finally, the solve. Many found this too confusing and gave up on it, but several of us made honest effort to solve it. A couple of my friends and I worked at it. They figured it out much faster than I did. It took me three days to solve it for the first time. It took them like half that. From there, we just solved the cube over and over again, getting better and better at it. I remember being so proud the first time I solved it in under 5 minutes. Soon, there were only four of us that were seriously into cubing: The senior who taught us, my two friends, and myself. We’d compete against each other to see who was the fastest. The senior could beat me with one hand, even after he gave me a head start of getting the white cross. I’ve gotten better since then, but, so has he. I’ve seen videos of him solve the cube in 54 seconds with one hand, and more like 18 when using both. Anyways, he got me hooked on cubing, and now, three years down the road, I’m determined to get better, but I want to enjoy doing it. After all, I started cubing for fun.