letters by a concerned asian Is it because I'm
getting old?

Dear readers,

I want to THANK YOU all for participating in the starving college student giveaway! This giveaway turned out to be pretty successful as it grew the following for those blog by over 500%. Now, before you all run away and unfollow since the giveaway is over (winner below), I do want to mention that I will be doing another one of these giveaways in the near future. There will be ways to get multiple entries in the next giveaway and I will most likely be doing MULTIPLE prizes! So stay tuned for that. :)

That being said, there were some 154 reblogs and likes to the giveaway post. This giveaway said the rules were that only one reblog would be valid, although anyone could reblog as many times as they wanted (I like more publicity). Even though it was pretty clear that those who were spamming reblogs were just extra accounts that were used only for reblogging giveaways….but don’t worry, I didn’t disqualify any of those! :) (next time, maybe.) 

There ended up only being 52 valid entries. The entries were all sorted alphabetically in excel and then numbered. Three numbers were chosen at random from two different number generators, and then one of the three numbers was randomly selected. And that number corresponded to…. lifeasafairytale! CONGRATULATIONS! :) You now have until the beginning of this coming Monday, September 12 at 12:01 AM Pacific Time, to message me directly with your mailing address! If I do not hear back from you by Monday, I will choose one of the other three numbers that were selected to be the finalists. (You can message me at my Ask Anything page.) 

Yours truly,
concerned asian

thelifeeeinme asked: I'm getting hungry with your giveaway! hahaha love ramen <3

Dear thelifeeeinme,

Me too! In fact, the box is just staring at me right now since I left it in the corner of my room. It just keeps asking for hot water and then to be eaten…

Speaking of love for ramen, you should click on this custom foodgawker link I have for you: I call it iloveramensomuchijustwanttostareatitrightnow.

Your fellow ramen lover,
concerned asian

p.s. those are an awful lot of giveaways reblogged to your tumblr. almost looks like your tumblr is just an account for getting giveaways ;)

Dear reader,

One of my dear old friends and now readers, emodias, messaged me a link yesterday that I thought is worthy of its own post entirely. 

I present to you: The First Advertising Campaign Aimed at Monkeys

And they say it’s no secret that sex sells. 

Yours,
concerned asian

Dear reader,

A number of you avid Tumblr-users have already probably read from The.Daily.What or another news source of the ruling made by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Boston, which effectively says the public has the right to video police (and other government officials) in public places.

I will let those of you do the reading, but this is a huge step forward in the protection and rights of U.S. citizens. Many of you know that it is incredibly easy now to record just about anything with your cellular phone and then sharing it over Youtube. Heck, most smartphones actually have a one-touch button that will automatically post something to Facebook or Youtube or Twitter. Boom. Instant feed into the grapevine.

What many of you most likely don’t know is that over the past couple of years, free speech rights in particular with video recording police officers has become more and more hazy as more law enforcement agencies have been stopping the filming of their officers. This court case which I referenced above, is the result of the courage of a young lawyer named Simon Glik. Glik recorded an incident where the Boston Police was using unnecessary and excessive force during an arrest where they had three officers on top of one man.

It makes you wonder: if you ever saw police officers using unnecessarily excessive force, would you have the courage to stop and take out your cellular phone and film the incident, even after they told you to stop?  

Remember this post and remember the decision from GLIK vs. CUNNIFFE, SAVALIS, & HALL-BREWSTER (2011). You have the right to video record government officials while in public.

Yours in public service,
concerned asian

foolsutopia asked: Are we not allowed to reblog more than once? I hope I win because i'm a really hungry college student! :)

Dear foolsutopia,

Thanks for following! You know, when I’m hungry I like to look at Foodgawker. (I swear I’m not a masochist or anything…I just like imagining what to cook.) And when I’m really hungry, I start thinking about visiting an aquarium and imagining someone turned the water in the tanks to boiling, and all the fish and giant sea shrimp and crabs and lobsters and sea bass were all being cooked at once…..oh man… that smells really good….

Anyway. Sorry. That was a tangent…to answer your question:

Of course you can reblog more than once! :) In fact, I would personally prefer it if you reblogged my posts once a day, just to give me some extra publicity.

But will reblogging more than once help your chances at the giveaway? No, I’m afraid not. :[ But…will it send more people to follow me and in turn lead me to be happier at the success of this little marketing campaign which in turn will lead me to create more giveways with maybe even MORE food in them? *Exhales* *Inhales* Why yes it would! :)

And if that happens, I’m sure it’ll happen before finals hits; when every college student just starts eating mostly ramen and snacks on anything they can find.

Good luck! (with school and the giveaway… hopefully the forces of the random number generator will be on your side!)

Yours whenever food is concerned,
concerned asian

Dear reader,

Thanks to everyone who have been reblogging the giveaway! Keep it coming. In fact, I’ve noticed that my following of college students has skyrocketed since the giveaway started. This particular letter goes out to all of you born after 1985, including myself. 

We are apathetic.

No, this is no joke and yes, it is a generalization. You might actually be the exception to this statistic, and if you are, kudos to you—leave a comment and let me know so I have a little bit more faith in my fellow peers. 

The truth is that our generation is the most apathetic generation the United States has seen. According to NBC News exit polls, only 18% of eligible young voters from the ages of 18 to 29 voted in the last presidential election.And despite Obama’s charismatic nature during the last presidential election, there was only a mere 1% increase of young voters from the 2004 presidential election. 

According to a March 2011 Survey by the Pew Research Center, only 21% of young people know that Boehner is the Speaker of the House. And only 26% know that Republicans currently hold the House majority. 

Our generation is more likely to know about technology and gossip than politics or news, and what concerns me more than that is the following: six in ten—thats’ 63%—of young people know that Mark Zuckerberg is the founder of Facebook.Imagine how much more weight politically we could have as youth if even six in ten young people voted or were aware of politics and current events. 

We stand around and complain about the world; about how education is becoming ridiculously expensive (which it is), and how politicians care more about getting tax cuts and business than they care about educating the future. But considering how few young people actually vote or voice their opinions on political issues, can you blame them?

Let me just leave this thought lingering in your head: how much do you know about current events, and when was the last time you voted in a government election? City elections are coming up this fall (in some cities). 2012 Elections are coming up. Get up and get out of this terrible statistic!

Yours truly,
concerned asian

Anonymous asked: do we only reblog the giveaway once?

Dear Anonymous,

Hello! Yes, one reblog is sufficient to qualify for the giveaway, as long as you are also a follower of this tumblr. :) 

If you want to reblog more than once, you’re welcome to do so as well. (Hey, I’m not gonna complain if you wanna give more props or publicity. I’ll take what I can get since this blog is so new!)

Warm regards,
concerned asian

Dear reader,

I wonder if I’ll ever say something along the lines of what Mrs. Gorsky said and have to bite my words later.

(Oh and I apologize ahead of time for the all caps… I copy and pasted this story from a stumble, and for some reason it was in all caps and bold. You know…probably so that Mr. and Mrs. Gorsky’s spirits could see, even with their vision impairments.)

ON JULY 20, 1969, AS COMMANDER OF THE APOLLO 11 LUNAR MODULE, NEIL ARMSTRONG WAS THE FIRST PERSON TO SET FOOT ON THE MOON. HIS FIRST WORDS AFTER STEPPING ON THE MOON, “THAT’S ONE SMALL STEP FOR MAN, ONE GIANT LEAP FOR MANKIND,” WERE TELEVISED TO EARTH AND HEARD BY MILLIONS.

BUT JUST BEFORE HE REENTERED THE LANDER, HE MADE THE ENIGMATIC REMARK “GOOD LUCK, MR. GORSKY.”

MANY PEOPLE AT NASA THOUGH IT WAS A CASUAL REMARK CONCERNING SOME RIVAL SOVIET COSMONAUT. HOWEVER, UPON CHECKING, THERE WAS NO GORSKY IN EITHER THE RUSSIAN OR AMERICAN SPACE PROGRAMS.

OVER THE YEARS MANY PEOPLE QUESTIONED ARMSTRONG AS TO WHAT THE “GOOD LUCK, MR. GORSKY” STATEMENT MEANT, BUT ARMSTRONG ALWAYS JUST SMILED.

ON JULY 5, 1995, IN TAMPA BAY, FLORIDA, WHILE ANSWERING QUESTIONS FOLLOWING A SPEECH, A REPORTER BROUGHT UP THE 26-YEAR-OLD QUESTION TO ARMSTRONG.

THIS TIME HE FINALLY RESPONDED. MR. GORSKY HAD DIED, SO NEIL ARMSTRONG FELT HE COULD ANSWER THE QUESTION.

IN 1938 WHEN HE WAS A KID IN A SMALL MIDWEST TOWN, HE WAS PLAYING BASEBALL WITH A FRIEND IN THE BACKYARD. HIS FRIEND HIT THE BALL,

WHICH LANDED IN HIS NEIGHBOR’S YARD BY THE BEDROOM WINDOWS.

HIS NEIGHBORS WERE MR. AND MRS.GORSKY. AS HE LEANED DOWN TO PICK UP THE BALL, YOUNG ARMSTRONG HEARD MRS. GORSKY SHOUTING AT MR. GORSKY. “SEX! YOU WANT SEX?! YOU’LL GET SEX WHEN THE KID NEXT DOOR WALKS ON THE MOON!”

True story.

Makes you wonder…what’s next, Mars?

Yours and always dreaming,
concerned asian