Words of Mine

UX Marketing Entries & Commentary Poetry

Humans & Politics Design

I knew growing up that I was a bit different, looking up to Gyrlie Gyrloos as an idol instead of Spiderman. My favorite game was “inventions,” as I called it, and I made my younger cousins play it along with me. We gathered old toys and scrap and had to create new toys and "invent" things with them.

Obviously, we didn't “invent“ anything but created more crap. Nevertheless, we enjoyed the process and imagination, and the newly assembled toys were actually fun to play with.

However, I never grasped my problem-solving and creativity until one day between grades 7 or 8. By the end of our geometry math class, our teacher assigned us a hefty assignment: to come to class the next day with a 3D model cuboid (prism) with a hollow rectangle hole through it. It wasn't mentally challenging, but everyone was outraged because we knew this construction would require at least the whole evening to craft.

Being a lazy problem-solver, I instantly knew I wasn't going to spend the whole evening on this assignment and came up with an alternative solution on the spot. I kept my idea to myself before the teacher ruled it out.

I already visualized my way back home, having all the free time I wanted. I just had to pass by a special stationary store not far from home and buy some clay that is packed in small blocks. I cashed out two, went home, and spent the evening playing.

On the next day, half the class failed to show up with the highly-marked model, and the other half showed up with what looked like hours of paper crafting last night.

I took the plastic-sealed clay block out of my bag in front of the teacher, took out a cutter, and cut a hollow square vertically through it. It took me 3 seconds max, and I handed it to him before he could make any remarks about not accepting it.

I still remember his facial expression, lightened with astonishment. He accepted it and followed with a statement I will never forget: "You would make a very good engineer." That was the day I knew, okay, my creativity is not just distinctive because my family told me so, but I got an acknowledgment from someone I looked up to intellectually outside my circle for a thought process I thought was, yes, different but normal.