Cubing in Public

Every time I pull out a cube in public, an aura of amazement instantly surrounds me. I’m sure you know the feeling, as you start turning, slowly a puzzled look enters here face and they lose comprehension of the entire world. Then, they come forward, and speak words that to us sound about as uneducated as a first grader trying to talk about math.

“Yeah I know a guy that can do one of those!” or the ever so annoying “I just peel the stickers off.” These comments might seem funny or important to the person first seeing someone solve a Rubik’s cube in 20 seconds, but to someone who has done this for a while, I can say these annoy me greatly. And those are just a few examples. I love silently laughing at people who say that their friend can do a 3x3-5x5 in a minute. Yeah, because your friend shatters every speedcubing world record in those categories on a regular basis. It’s actually kind of funny to listen to these preposterous claims of those trying not to feel inferior.

But this isn't the only surreal thing that occurs in the magical world of cubing in public. Never forget the people inquiring how you solve it so fast, implying that you can take one alg and solve it in 5 seconds without trouble. It makes me laugh thinking that the general consensus is that speed equals simplicity. Let me inform any none cuber reading this that speed takes lots of work. One algorithm, or even only one set of “patterns” is never enough for anyone fast. To say so is actually kind of insulting to me, and I assume it is for others as well.

But there are positives to cubing in public too. It is a moral boost to have people rave over your solving abilities, even if they are less than par by speedcuber standards. Plus, even when nobody is around, cubing is just great for passing time. And all these examples are just my personal experiences; imagine what someone like Anthony Brooks had to deal with. He met hundreds of people every day at the Liberty Science center, and had to hear everything I have mentioned PLUS MORE. I have to respect something like that. It may be cool to be a professional cuber and just solve all day long, but I would think this would be a serious down fall. However, I love cubing enough to deal with all of it, and I think that is the main idea.