Although I'm glad you're giving folks ideas for reusing the chopsticks they have, I hope that this doesn't make anyone feel more at ease with using the disposable ones.

Disposable chopsticks are a huge source of deforestation around the world with some figures as high as 25 million trees being used each year. Furthermore, much of this wood has actually come from rainforests because the wood must be cheap, free of knots, and readily available. Now, disposable chopsticks are a source of deforestation in Canada as well, as illustrated here: http://www.american.edu/TED/canchop.htm .

It appears that much of the relevant information is difficult to find online in English, but it's not hard to understand how disposable utensils can be a tremendous waste.

If you still love to use chopsticks, pick up a set of plastic reusable ones, and take them with you when you plan to use them. Otherwise, I highly recommend you give up the novelty value for the environment and stick to the reusable fork the restaurant has on hand.