Hustling the Rubik’s Cube
(This post is for those of you who’ve known me since high school.)
“Hey, are you Alfred?”
Yes.
“Thought I recognized you.”
Oh, can’t remember who you are…
“Rob, from Hamber!”
Yes of course, I remember – you graduated one year ahead of me.
“Can I sit down?”
Yeah sure, just having lunch here.
“You know what… I have something here for you…”
Oh really?
“Oops, I don’t have any money on me. But I owe you twenty bucks.”
No no, of course not.
“You know what I’m talking about right?”
Yeah, it was the Rubik’s cube. You know what… it was a total hustle, I can’t take your money.
“It was a fair bet right?”
Yeah, but you should make me do it again right now, just to make sure I can still do it…
“You did it back then – it was a bet, fair and square.”
We were kids and we did dumb shit.
….
It was odd running into Rob today at the mall.
In high school, I learned how to do the Rubik’s Cube using the layers method. Using this algorithm, I could do the cube easily in less than 3 minutes. This is no where close to world class time records, but it was good for a party trick or two. For some reason, on a particular day in physics class – I decided that it might be fun to try to hustle Rob for money. So I asked Rob – would you believe that I could do it in less than 5 minutes? At which point Rob was somehow be goaded into making a money proposition – in which case, I should easily make it. What I didn’t expect was a double or nothing proposition for 3 minutes, which is more of a sporting bet than the 5 minutes – I managed to clear it as well. At which point, Rob was a gentleman (but a mad gentleman) and handed over the money. It should be noted that the money was eventually returned later the same week – I felt kinda guilty and decided that I really don’t want someone who’s going to be mad at me for the rest of eternity.
So yes – I can boldy say that I hustled the cube for money like a pool shark. I was also able to do the Square One reliably in less than 5 minutes. Can’t remember how to do either to save my life right now, haha!
Good times, folks… good times.
