“I have to learn it!” I said to myself. I wanted to solve a Rubik’s cube -- not because it would be fun, but because of an issue.
You know when you bend your fingers and wrist and they crack? Yeah, that was an issue for me because it had become a bad habit that I could not stop.
For some reason I felt that solving a Rubik’s cube would help -- just a feeling. No one told me to do it. My mom was surprised, but also delighted to see that I had thought of a way to try and deal with this habit.
After I started on my cube, I haven’t been snapping my fingers anymore, not since the moment I played with it. So I knew I had to solve it!
My parents contacted my teacher to see if it was okay to bring to class. Thankfully, she said yes. After that, it took a long time to find the right tutorial that would help me solve it. But in the end, I found this tutorial which was sponsored by “The Rubik’s Company” themselves.
I understood a lot of it. Until ... I had a corner twist in my Cube, I could not untwist it! If you're a cuber, you will already know. But if not, just know that there are corners on a Rubik’s cube which you can twist.
But for me, for some reason, it did not work. I asked my friends, I asked my parents, but nothing worked. I was losing hope, but I thought “Ansharah, you can’t give up here!” So, I asked my mom for a new one, this time it was the “Official Rubik’s Company.”
I looked at the tutorial over, and over, and it got trickier. But in the end, I finally memorized it
I got closer, and closer, and finally, I solved it! I was overjoyed. But, I needed to memorize the technique. So, I looked at the tutorial over, and over, and it got trickier. But in the end, I finally memorized it.
Soon, I started racing friends and getting highly advanced. My record was going from two minutes to one minute! I asked my mom for a speed cube -- a really fast cube -- she said maybe. For Eid, my second to last gift from my baba was none other than a speed cube.
I also got a 2x2 cube, it has 4 cube pieces on each side. It wasn’t too hard and I solved that easily. Then with my new 3x3, I cracked that within the 60 second mark -- first with 56 seconds and now my record is only 45 seconds on my speed cube.
Soon after, I joined a Cubing Club online and now I am having so much fun. These days I can solve it in such a short time. I am grateful for having learnt how to solve it. So remember everyone: Never give up and practice makes perfect!
Until next time.
Ansharah Rahman is an elementary school student based in Maryland, United States.