A funny story about the cube
Asa Grigsby (12, USA)
We all were amateurs at one point, you can’t deny that. Whether you’re playing basketball or gaming, you started out as a noob. I’m in the same boat as everybody else, and I can’t stand thinking about me as a cubing noob.
I did so many things. For example, I thought you only have to solve on side of the Rubik’s Cube, and then the whole thing would be solved. I found out the hard way that this was incorrect.
Now, as a noob, I couldn’t solve the whole thing, but I could solve a side. I thought I held the world record for solving a side. I showed it to my Dad and told me to solve the whole thing, but I thought it was impossible. Soon, my brother and me would challenge each other to see who could solve a side the fastest. It was me most of the time. I even had a strategy to doing it. I would pair an edge and a corner into twos, then I would put them where they were supposed to go until I had a solved face. When I was a noob, I thought it was hard to solve a side, and that if you could solve a side you were a pro, but looking back at it now, it really hurts.
One day, I went over to my cousin’s house, and he was a cuber. I brought my Rubik’s with me and I showed him that I could solve a side. I probably looked really smug at the time, but then he solved it for me really fast, faster than I thought was possible. I was amazed, and then I knew how lame I was. This was one moment that determined me to learn how to solve one.
Once again, everyone had a starting point, and my starting point, was a really, really, cringey one.