Dealing with the strange looks

[MiloD]

If you want to get the looks, New York subway is best, lol. Keeping your head down is good if you don't want people talking to you, but I enjoy it. I give a short explanation, and sometimes a website or two for those who genuinely want to learn.

-niKo

I practice 5x5 on the NYC bus and subways almost everyday. It was horrible until I started bringing my psp for music. Little kids are always particularly amazed and are not shy about approaching me, which I of course am fine with. Most days no one says anything but I can defiantly feel the staring. Someone once just started video taping me on the C train without saying anything to me. I really didn't feel like saying anything either so I pretended not to notice and just rescrambled and kept solving.

 

[pcwiz]

When people start staring at you you should be happy. Obviously they think you are amazing otherwise they wouldn't stare. And those that are not shy and start questioning just sincerely want to know how you do it. I don't think anyone means to be annoying - it is just that they are really so amazed with how you can solve a Rubik's cube.

You have a good point, but if you do it often (say at school everyday), people are going to be staring and saying "OMG, you still do that" or "get off the cube!". It's very annoying and disturbing. Yes, at first it is nice but it only lasts for a few days.

So I'm telling a guy that a term for "Rubik's Cubing" is called "speedcubing" and the guy next to him goes like "you actually know that? that's sad". That is very irritating and MEAN!!!

Eventually they are mean to you!!!

 

[Lucas Garron]

What's fun is BLD on BART.
I often do it without the blindfold now... (I really would like to use a blindfold, but after practicing some 3x3x3, 4x4x4, and OH, pulling out a blindfold might just be a little too much for spectators to handle. I'm using the time to practice, not really to show off.)

Last week I finished a BLD solve and heard some girl on the other side of the standing area say "And he's... done." They probably thought I was just speedsolving. 8)

But while cubing I look at the cube nearly the whole time. Mostly, people don't talk to me, but I'm always happy to engage in conversation with other passengers.
(Once, some guy went an extra station to talk to me longer and watch a 5-min minx solve...)

(For those who don't know, BART is the San Francisco Bay Area version of the subway, except it's also above ground much of the time. You can also see BART in The Pursuit of Happyness.)

 

[dChan]

I have yet to encounter anyone that is rude so many that is why I don't understand the dilemna some of you are having. I really like it when people stare because it is like after that four months of practicing so hard I get noticed now not just for my ability to solve the Rubik's cube but for my ability to do it in under half a minute(or in the cause of OH solves in 45 seconds). It is really cool for me when people just stare because you know they are amazed with you.

 

[rubiks to the third]

strangers always pop my cube when they want to scramble it. then they think im cheating when i twist a corner cuz they put it back wrong.

 

[pcwiz]

Yeah I like it when people stare at me because they think you're amazing and then you get "popular" for a couple of minutes. I like that feeling but if you do that in an everyday area such as a school, everybody is going to get bored and eventually dis you!!!

 

[Dene]

Just blow off the annoying people and talk to the ones you want to... I'm normally pretty quiet and introverted so I don't mind the occasional attention and people noticing me for once lol.
If you don't want people saying anything put headphones on and concentrate really hard hard on the cube so it doesn't look like you are purposefully ignoring them

I'm always extremely quiet and introverted unless I'm with people I know, and I don't like having to talk to random people. Bugger attention seeking, it's too embarrassing. What's wrong with you?!!

 

[fanwuq]

don't you just hate it when you are scrambling and people would say,"look! he's not even looking!"
This does get old at school. Your close friends just call you addict.

 

[Lofty]

Haha I don't seek out the attention but I don't complain when I get it. I'm the same as you like that Dene, only talkative around close friends.
And as for people "dissing" you. . If they are serious in their dis they can't be your friend anyway...Ignore them and go hang out with your real friends. If there are none available ignore them and go back to the cube

 

[pcwiz]

don't you just hate it when you are scrambling and people would say,"look! he's not even looking!"
This does get old at school. Your close friends just call you addict.

True... I hate it!

 

[Dene]

What close friends? :confused:

 

[fanwuq]

Haha I don't seek out the attention but I don't complain when I get it. I'm the same as you like that Dene, only talkative around close friends.
And as for people "dissing" you. . If they are serious in their dis they can't be your friend anyway...Ignore them and go hang out with your real friends. If there are none available ignore them and go back to the cube

Well they are joking. Some of them are interested. But want to figure everything out by themselves, or just like to make simple patterns (M2zM2yM2)

 

[badmephisto]

yea i usually try to avoid people when i cube. But its a very good conversation starter thats for sure. I cringe every time someone tells me they peeled the stickers off, and get that stupid smirk on their face as if they were geniuses for figuring THAT out.
also i find that many people take the cube and make sure that it is scrambled. they also think many times that i keep track of it as i scramble it, and that then I just reverse scramble. They are always suspicious.

 

[36duong]

I don't mind people watching me, but when they start asking questions i don't like it. When people ask me "How did you do that?" I just smile and tell them to watch and observe. I especially hate it when the topic of Dan Brown's Youtube video comes up. It usually starts by someone going "There's a video on Youtube of how to do it," then it stems out into an open discussion,most of them don't understand that Dan Brown's system isn't the fastest, and some of them think sub-20 solves are achieved with Dan Brown's system. I just tell them that those solves are achieved using a faster system, usually a more advanced F2L system and walk away.

I don't cube in huge public places, only in a library or in a far remote bench, but there always seems to be people asking questions

 

[SajberPinGu]

they also think many times that i keep track of it as i scramble it, and that then I just reverse scramble. They are always suspicious.

You know what you say to them then?

"When you get home, go to the computer and open notepad or what ever. Then close their eyes and strike keys at random and in high-speed and then they should recite them before opening their eyes (maybe inverted too).
Thats what its like to scramble a cube if you are used to twist it too"

Most ppl get the idea!

 

[pcwiz]

they also think many times that i keep track of it as i scramble it, and that then I just reverse scramble. They are always suspicious.

You know what you say to them then?

"When you get home, go to the computer and open notepad or what ever. Then close their eyes and strike keys at random and in high-speed and then they should recite them before opening their eyes (maybe inverted too).
Thats what its like to scramble a cube if you are used to twist it too"

Most ppl get the idea!

Good point! I mean people would obviously know you turn the cube 10+ times and at fast speeds when you don't look at the cube. But they're stupid and they think you do the scramble backward (I can't even do an algorithm backward looking at a piece of paper) and they think you cheat.

Also, they think looking at some algorithms on a piece of paper is cheating! Well, technically, it is, but I'm not showing off, and I said "I don't remember these algorithms so I have to look at a piece of paper" (a 2x2 cube) and then they say I cheat. Well technically, I just told them I "cheat" and then they say it in front of everybody!!! OMG!!!! I can't even use words to explain that!

 

[Cubie Newbie]

Many times, people call you "cube names" or tell to "get off the cube" or something like that because they are jealous and are trying to divert attention away from you and onto themselves. Also, when I do a sub-30 solve, I get really annoyed when someone says, "He did it in under five minutes!"

Sometimes, at school, I bring my old cube and let the spectators mess around with it and simply cube with my new one.

 

[fanwuq]

actually random people in crowded places generally just think you are amazing and just leave you alone or occasionally some random girl starts to ask you annoying personal questions or some man takes your cube and pops while scrambling. It's not too bad. But saying that they peel off the stickers is just painful.

 

[ajmorgan25]

Yeah, nothing is worse than a pop during a scramble. When I get near the end and determine which piece needs to be flipped, they think I can't do it even though I'd be willing to do it 1000 times after I flip the cube.

Anybody have a good analogy to explain why you can't solve a cube when a piece has been flipped?

 

[pcharles93]

^^
Take 2 quarters. Put one heads up and the others tails up. Flip them both at the same time. No matter what you do one will always be heads and one will always be tails.

Or you can always try to reason with them using the even parity statement. Noone gets it when I say it. Edges are simple for people to understand. I get to the corner parity explanation and they just zone out. They don't understand that corners have 3 possible orientations somehow.

If you don't want people to annoy you and ask you how to solve it. Carry around an algorithm sheet with notation and with the PLL and OLL cases numbered only. No pictures, just numbers. An extra page on group theory would help too. If anyone asks how to solve it just whip it out and show them. They'll either get bug-eyed and walk away or just ask how you can read all those letters. I did that to one of my co-workers with some PLL's and she said "WTH? These aren't directions, how can you read this?"

It's so fun to mess with non-cubers.