Me Old Ruby

Someone asked why I just picked up a small Rubik's cube and then left it unsolved. Puzzled for a moment, I wondered if it was a rhetorical question. Not many people know what a Rubik's Cube is, let alone know how to solve it. Yet, this stranger assumed I could solve it. Well, he guessed right, sort of, because I actually could. What I didn't think was that I would be buying a real one a couple of days after.

For reasons I don't remember, the Rubik's Cube became popular in secondary school. It was the new hype yet only a few people were interested in it. I was one of them and then became obsessed with it, so much so that I walked everywhere solving it. I think I owned one then. Then I graduated and forgot about it... until now.

With more than a decade gone, I cannot solve a Rubik's Cube like I used to. The muscle memory is still present, however, as I discovered. I could still solve 40% of it by memory. But it was how I felt when I tried it again after so long that pulled me in on to something.

While I try to solve it, I am focused. Probably 100%, as I almost never think of anything else. Might sound counterintuitive, but it really is a way for me to "get out" and realign my focus. So after borrowing one for a few days and chilling with it, I bought one for myself.

This definitely looks like a toy to some people. To my surprise, in fact, many people don't even know it. But what it really is is a good form of mental exercise.

Relearning it has been "stretchy." Going through different algorithms for specific situations, flipping corners and edges, it sure feels like I just found an old ruby. Nowhere close to mastering it like a decade ago, but I'm steadily going anyway.