Tell me people, how many times have you encountered situations where you flip open a menu in a Japanese restaurant, you have no frigging clue what they have to offer inside there? Just… what exactly does it mean when you see something like “Tempura Susihfuoishuidh Suhfduishjifdskj”? Is that a fish? Is that a chicken? Or is that some exotic cow’s pancreas that’s edible? You have no idea. That’s because, you ain’t a Japanese. (Or you’re a Japanese language illiterate like me)
That is when I would find those little descriptions in English under that litany of Japanese culinary jargons useful. If I want to eat raw salmon, I’ll just go look around for something in the descriptions that says “raw salmon”. That’s how it works for me. I won’t even bother to make any attempt to pronounce the name of the food I’m going to order. I’ll usually just point that thing out and let them take the order accordingly.
I was exactly doing that at a Japanese restaurant yesterday. After ordering my bento meal out of the menu, I sort of forgotten about what I’ve ordered after chatting with my colleagues. That wasn’t a problem for me until one of the waitress came over to our table holding a bento set … and asked me in a soft spoken voice:
“Sirrrrr… did you order SUhfuhfduhu JHuhuhdjdhkjshkj Bento?”
Shitttttt. I don’t know. How would I know? I tried to peek at the bento set if it’s looking any similar to that I’ve ordered, but… I couldn’t tell the difference (coz they looked so different from the pictures).
“I don’t know” — I replied.
She gave me a befuddled look, probably thought I was some disabled guy that couldn’t even remember what I ordered 5 fucking minutes ago… and then turned to the rest of the guys if they have any idea whose bento was that. Like me, the guys didn’t know either (almost all of them ordered a bento set). So, the situation was like, a few blokes productively looking at each other not knowing what they had ordered.
It wasn’t until a few seconds later, one of the guys finally figured that he ordered the first item on that bento page (which he had no idea what the name was) – only then, the waitress managed to cross reference it with her memory and delivered the bento set to the right guy. Fucking hell.
Having experienced that, I can’t help but wonder, why do we still pay for that 10% service charge if they can’t even work out what we have ordered? And what’s the rationale for them to confirm our order, again, by quoting the order’s name in, Japanese? Instead of taking the trouble to ask, can’t they just write it down in some way so that they fucking know who ordered what??
As if it’s not already bad enough, I had an upset stomach after consuming that box of bento and purged some slimy shits halfway through my important work. Goddamn. I ain’t going back that place anymore.
Physics: It’s actually a simple “Y” shaped contraption (usually made of wood, but there have been variations of steel made slingshots as well). The weapon has an elastic band tied to the end of each prongs and uses the elasticity of the band to propel the missile forward. Missile choices can be anything hard and roughly spherical in shape (pebbles, marbles, small fruits or small cute vertebrate animals). Just load missile on slingshot, pull elastic band and release to shoot. 
Physics: Same principle as slingshot. Instead of “Y” prongs, one will just need to stretch the rubber band across his/her index finger and thumb to create a ‘mini’ version of a slingshot. This is a pistol version of the longer range slingshot. Uses a specially made paper missile (refer illustration). Just hook the inner joint of the folded paper to the stretched rubber band between fingers, pull and release to shoot. 
Physics: The whole thing pretty much works like the principle of a blowpipe. You know, you use your mouth to blow out projectiles through a long narrow tube. Now instead of using a real blowpipe, you use a straw. Just grab one from McDonalds. Then go buy a pack of green beans (not sure if it’s really called green beans, just refer to the pic on left to make sure you got it right). Load a handful of them into your mouth and blow away with the straw. Laugh.