the squibix family blog

puzzling

For whatever reason, I consider real-life puzzle projects more valuable that computer-game ones, so I was proud and delighted a couple weeks ago when Harvey learned how to solve a Rubiks Cube. He picked it up super quickly too, motivated by the popularity of cubing among his age-peers in the homeschool set and helped a great deal by his good friend who's a couple years older. He watched videos and things too, but having someone to show him what to do—and point out where he's going wrong—really accelerated the learning process.

I asked the friend's mom if she was interested in learning the ways of the cube, and she told me she absolutely was not. But I confess I'm kind of drawn to trying to figure it out, and this evening, after asking Harvey for some tips, I spent a solid hour working on the first steps. I'm not sure my brain is built for it, any more than it is for the all the other little handheld puzzles that have somehow become an essential part of our Hanukkah observations at Leah's parent's house. But that didn't stop me from throwing myself at them, either—and I even solved a couple! I don't know if I'll ever get the Rubiks Cube, but I've still got energy for working on it. Hey, it's at least as useful as learning how to beat the computer at Reversi, something else I accomplished this past week!