I solved my problem through
require_relative
require './whateverfileiplannedtorequire'
load 'whateverfileiplannedtorequire'
but I am trying to get require to work without the ./ at the beginning as is advertised in the Beginning Ruby book. I hoped pushing my CWD into the $: array would fix this, but it didn't. How would I manage to get require to work as shown in the book?