<p>The peanut butter is in a sealed jar, right? Why wouldn’t you drop it on the bed as you’re entering the room? (What do you people DO with peanut butter, anyway???)</p>
<p>To me, a trebuchet is a high-class weapon where a catapult evokes Dennis the Menace. A marshmallow trebuchet would be even better. 
I liked the addition of “homemade.”</p>
<p>I’m betting this essay is going to be fantastic once physicsnut1 tunes out all this micro-editing.</p>
<p>I think you’re going to be fine whatever you decide-- you’re getting too hung up now – your first instinct was a good one- the three items were interesting and unique and as a collection gave us a good impression of who you are are …and the metre in the essay was solid.
Did you consider Bop-It Extreme instead of Bop-It if you worried about any potentially bizarre connotations of those who didn’t know what it really did?
The peanut butter doesn’t do as great a job capturing your first instinct with the cube, the bop-it and the catapult.</p>
<p>Catapult to me became a mental-metaphor-- I see you catapulting into your future solving interesting puzzles like those you used to enjoy when younger --I see risk taking with the word catapult!.. the Bop-It and the Cube…the imagery was right on first time…The substitute term reads snobby pretentious…?? that’s me though–may not be others’ impression.
Don’t replace it with peanut butter, chess or anything else…enough people knew the bop-it…and if they didn’t it would not ruin or diminish the clearly interesting essay it appears to be.</p>
<p>You must let us know if you get into Stanford! Good Luck</p>