Took me 5 days as well, though I might have spent more than an hour on it daily. I stepped away from the cube for about 4 years and was able to pick it up again just from muscle memory.
I now use the cube as a meditative practice. For 1-3 minutes, nothing in the world matters with the exception of solving the cube. Doesn't work well as a meditation tool when you start doing other cubes however, like the megminx. It just becomes a frustration device.
Same for me, I actually have mine (a relatively cheap speedcube) on my table at the office. When I want to clean up my mind, I scramble and solve it. I use Roux's method, which is surprisingly light to learn and satisfying to execute
We have one in the office. My boss taught me how to do it - took about a week as everyone else has said.
We do it when we're on long phone calls. It sounds like a distraction, but I find it actually helps me focus. It's just turning cubes from rote memory, paying slight attention to where things need to go. It's far less distracting than picking up the phone and firing up Twitter.
(I was 39 when I learned, FWIW. Recommended to anybody.)
Same here. I have one on my desk to solve whenever I find myself procrastinating out of anxiety. Not only does solving it quell the anxiety, it has helped me get better at detecting the anxious state before I get sucked into another, more distracting activity for relief.
I have been looking for a developer position since 2013. I am still looking. I currently work as a test Engineer and have a steady income, but life is genuinely getting worse and worse as time goes by.
Contrast that with blog posts of 20 somethings telling you how to be happy and be productive on medium as they enjoy their Facebook job is quite frustrating and can make things worse.
I am starting to build a brand in the hopes that I can make something out of it and never have to worry about finding a development job.
Besides not listening to people on the interwebs, I don't really have any advice. Just wanted to let you know that you are not alone.
Sounds like you have a great life and great network of people around you so maybe telling someone what they love is a waste of life is probably not a good use of your life.
Maybe realize that some people struggle to find happiness and will constantly be struggling. Not everybody can have a family. Not everyone can find a job after school. Not everything is easy.
You are, for all intents and purposes, stealing from people poorer than you.
The default assumption is that customers will tip at least a reasonable amount for all service. If you aren't going to do that you need to announce your intentions in advance. Whenever you go to a restaurant just let the hostess know your plans. That way you won't be deceiving people who are serving you.
You have a unique perspective on this situation. I don't have to do shit. I want food, I get food. Not my fault you create a barrier between me and food.
Regardless, I don't go to restaurants because of this.
Also, if I have to state my intentions, then a server should have to say, "we ask for money because I chose to work for a company that doesn't pay well. Sometimes we deserve it. Most of the time we don't"
There is an important difference between the servers intentions and your intentions. The servers intentions are well inline with cultural norms and hence the default assumption in a restaurant. There's no need to bother restating them. This is what cultural norms are.
Your intentions, on the other hand, are very unusual and not standard. That's why it's important for you to tell people what is going on so that they are not caught by surprise.
I have never had a good job. Most of my life has been miserable working in QA and not finding any value in anything I do or being able to find something better.
This currently leads me to where I am today, working at a huge corp in a pool of mediocrity. The people around me have absolutely no big ambitions to do anything meaningful in life and are very comfortable with their mediocre kids. These people are happy which is a whole other topic that blows my mind.
Because I am constantly around these people, they think of me as mean and condescending. No I am not, I just can't be happy producing shit work in a company that doesn't provide me with any value. When I go home, I am not going to have fun, I am going to work on a project that can help me get away from these people. I don't allow anyone to passively say "tgif" or "its monday" to me as if I agree with their mediocre sentiment.
Maybe I am mean and that is why I can't find work, but I rather be mean than mediocre.
Are you sure you are not projecting your own attitude on them? I know testers who like that job. Not like as "I want to become famous", but like as "I actually like doing that activity and like people on that job".
To address the personal attack in second paragraph: Some of those dudes might consider their families meaningful. It is goods for kids when their parents love them even as kids are average - most kids are average so it is good when parents are comfortable with them. There is nothing wrong nor shameful about men being comfortable with their own children. Fathers are as important for children as mothers.
"If you hate a person, you hate something in him that is part yourself. What isn't part ourselves doesn't disturb us." - Hermann Hesse, Demian
"Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves." - Carl Jung
Playing high status at work could be a coping mechanism. Honestly, if you're unhappy just quit and go work someplace where people are smarter than you are. But if this feeling persists, its probably time to change yourself.
I spend my nights and weekends working on side projects in the hopes that I can find a job that I like. I have been applying to jobs nonstop since becoming an adult and will continue to do so until I find something that will make me happy.
I definitely do these things constantly in the hopes of finding something that will make me happy, but after almost 10 years and nothing really to show for it, it can cause someone to go insane.
The real question is, what have you done recently to improve your skillset? If you regularly improve your skills, you won't be in that situation for long.
I now use the cube as a meditative practice. For 1-3 minutes, nothing in the world matters with the exception of solving the cube. Doesn't work well as a meditation tool when you start doing other cubes however, like the megminx. It just becomes a frustration device.