Today I decided after working for the One Foundation for a few months that it wouldn’t make sense for me to work for a charity and not make my own contribution. I didn’t have much on me, but the One Foundation motto and belief of Founder Jet Li is to donate $1 every month or contribute a little every month to make a big difference as a global family. I think this message is the most important. It’s not about donating thousands only when you have finally “made it”, it’s about always remembering to give back.. and pretty much everyone I know can afford $1 a month. The number “1″ makes sense because it’s symbolic of taking action to do your part.. moreover a $1 contribution by everyone in the world every month would be more than enough to make a huge impact.

Now today I wanted to designate where my contribution would go, but unfortunately the amount of resources it would take to allocate my small contribution would not be a worthwhile use of resources within our organization… Thus, the One Foundation Shanghai team proposed that I start a mini fund within the One Foundation and when it gets to a sizable amount I (along with my friends and contributors) could determine an event/project to focus our donations. My top 3 areas of interest currently are medical research, impoverished youth, or environment / natural disaster. I think this will be really exciting and closer to home because when the project comes to fruition you all will get to see the direct efforts of your donations whether it’s a dollar or a hundred dollars or a thousand dollars.

Here is the link where you can donate to the One Foundation – http://www.onefoundation.cn/html/en/beneficence_01.htm

Please put a note that it is for the Alfred Hsing fund and then EMAIL me at alfredrocks [at] gmail.com to let me know so that I can make sure the amount goes into our pool. =)

One Foundation is a direct partner with the Red Cross. For more information feel free to check out the one foundation site.

One Foundation – One Family

base jumping

 Just watched a program on BBC at my Hotel in Macau. It was about a world class ER surgeon that thrives on extreme sports. They started talking about base jumping – which is free falling from a fixed object. The surgeon said that base jumping is more thrilling than skydiving because when you skydive its all just air, but when you jump from a cliff or building you have a reference point for how fast you are going. The BBC reporter questioned him, “Why do you do these things? Don’t you realize you could get injured?”

The surgeon replied “…or die? It’s exactly because of those reasons that I do it. Anyone who says they have ‘no fear’ is lying. I want to feel fear. For me it’s like something inside of you that lets you know you’re alive. Of course you have to be very confident and make sure you cover all the possible pitfalls. I feel like it has helped me be a better surgeon. You have to make life and death split second decisions. Extreme sports have made me more decisive and confident in making choices.”

I guess the reason I felt compelled to share this is because I feel a connection to this surgeon base jumper. I feel that when you put your life on the line and realize your own mortality you don’t stress out about trivial things. You realize that it’s not worth it to put someone down.. or you realize that it’s not worth it to do anything less than what makes you happy.

That fear pushes you out of your shell or comfort zone and gives you a connection with all things that are living.. because you are potentially on the threshold of being in the other category. I really think the more encounters people have with extreme situation / life and death situations the more you can become a carefree person.. like… “hey, im alive and im happy about that!”

So I’ve been out in Beijing for a little over 2 weeks now. Why did I move out here? I got an offer to work for Jet Li / The One Foundation and in less than 24 hours I had decided I would relocate everything to Beijing. A frequent slogan of the one foundation is that with “one” it symbolizes a beginning to something. Without 1 there can not be a 2 and subsequent growth.

People ask me what do I do? This is such a difficult question because there’s just so much. As much as the previous assistant explained and prepared me for what was in store when I got off that plane, actually diving into it head on was a completely different sensation. I remember 3 days in RW constructively told me “stop sighing… I know it’s a lot to take in. I sighed a lot when I first got here too, but I know you can handle it.” ..and since then I do feel a better grasp on things of course, but I just wanted to use that quote to exemplify how much was going on.

One Foundation Research Institute Ceremony

So a quick recap of some of the things that happened in the life of Alfred Hsing upon first arriving. I feel like I barely drop off my 2 huge luggage bags and before I know it I am on a plane again. We essentially traveled to Shanghai, Changzhou, Hangzhou, Macau, and back to Beijing in 7 days or so. We had meetings, lunches, interviews, dinners, red carpet events, philanthropy discussions, and press conferences to attend throughout the day. The first first day on the job for me was the announcement of the One Foundation Research Institute at Beijing Normal University. After that it all blends together, but a few notable events include meeting the CEO of Alibaba.com, fighting our way out through a mob of fans, seeing Jet promote his “WuJi” Adidas line, first hand tour of part of the Shanghai Expo, and attending press events for his latest movie “Ocean Heaven”.

Ocean Heaven

I had the opportunity to watch Ocean Heaven with the One Foundation team. Let me cue you all in on both real quick in case you don’t know. Ocean Heaven is a non-action film starring Jet where he is the father of an autistic child. One of the reasons he did this film was to support various causes and create awareness for people out there. This sort of ties in with the One Foundation in terms of his aims to help others. The One Foundation was created in 2007 and the simple message is that everyone should do a little every month because the world is one big family. He says that above all.. before we get into races and genders and who owns what and who does what.. we are all humans and we share one earth.. so we should all do our part to help out. That is a very high level explanation, but day to day there is a LOT more going on. He and the team are always striving to develop and grow the foundation so that it can do more in cases of natural disasters, poverty, education, health, and environmental protection.

Ocean Heaven Red Carpet Event

Wushu
I think it’s cool that Jet was one of the first that broke through and brought wushu to the world and a couple of wushu generations later I am still practicing wushu and working alongside him. We had a brief chat about who I trained with and it was cool that he knew most of the people and they were people that competed in his era and or trained with him. We had a meeting with some wushu federation members and it came up that I would be attending the Sport Accord Combat Games which they are helping to host.

For the Sport Accord Combat Games I will be competing in changquan only. Some friends in China asked to see my longfist form and some videos since youtube is BLOCKED in China.. I’ve uploaded my videos on youku.com! Here are two clips:

Social Life
I haven’t had much time to go out since I’ve just started working, but I was able to hang out with some friends at Shi Cha Hai and train once or twice with the Beijing Wushu Team. Although I’m working a lot and learning a ton, I need to remind myself to stay in shape still… on top of that, I need to keep in shape for this last tournament in August at least. I also have interacted with Jet’s previous assistants and they have all been very talented and very cool people.

Food
One thing about this job is that food and hotels are never shabby. I have had some really delicious food the past few weeks. The other half of the time when we are not out at a restaurant room service becomes your friend.

Thank You Room Service

Thoughts
I am definitely learning a lot out here. I do not for a second regret this decision although to be honest at times I do think to myself “I could be in LA with family and friends. I could be in an environment where I know all the places; I know the people around me; the language, roads, etc are more familiar” but then I do consider that this is a very rare opportunity to take in as much as possible from the movers and shakers of the world. We’ve met UN officials, real estate moguls, and the largest web entrepreneur in Asia. I am very passionate about the work we do and it just so happens that the things my boss is involved in happens to be “business, entertainment, and martial arts.”

Jet and Wang Shi

Bruce Lee Inspiration

I just read the above motivational quote and I’m glad I read it. Things are fast changing for me as I prepare for another adventure. Life and my lifestyle will change very soon! All for the best I hope. Anyways, I am very pressed at the moment and this quote is awesome because it tells me that I am acting in a way that is inline with Bruce’s philosophy on living a fulfilling life.

Here is the quote:

“Bruce had me up to three miles a day, really at a good pace. We’d run the three miles in twenty-one or twenty-two minutes. Just under eight minutes a mile [Note: when running on his own in 1968, Lee would get his time down to six-and-a half minutes per mile]. So this morning he said to me “We’re going to go five.” I said, “Bruce, I can’t go five. I’m a helluva lot older than you are, and I can’t do five.” He said, “When we get to three, we’ll shift gears and it’s only two more and you’ll do it.” I said “Okay, hell, I’ll go for it.” So we get to three, we go into the fourth mile and I’m okay for three or four minutes, and then I really begin to give out. I’m tired, my heart’s pounding, I can’t go any more and so I say to him, “Bruce if I run any more,” –and we’re still running-”if I run any more I’m liable to have a heart attack and die.” He said, “Then die.” It made me so mad that I went the full five miles. Afterward I went to the shower and then I wanted to talk to him about it. I said, you know, “Why did you say that?” He said, “Because you might as well be dead. Seriously, if you always put limits on what you can do, physical or anything else, it’ll spread over into the rest of your life. It’ll spread into your work, into your morality, into your entire being. There are no limits. There are plateaus, but you must not stay there, you must go beyond them. If it kills you, it kills you. A man must constantly exceed his level.”

A man must constantly exceed his level! Time to be a man!

Now to a huge list of things that I have to do within 2 weeks:

transfer business email forwarding
UPS shipper account company testing trial period
update FAQ
find customer support staff
book flight up north
book flight to china
sell car
find new roommate
clean house
buy new laptop
buy new luggage case (maybe also buy one of those traveler backpacks)
optometrist appointments
acting classes
get visas
martial arts training
teaching lessons
buy new camera lens
buy new phone (thinking unlocked iphone)

Start with yourself

I want to make an impact on the world. I want to do things I’m proud of and I want to enjoy life too. During this process as I’ve worked to improve myself, meet more people, and put myself out there in various different fields and circles, I’ve also encountered haters – people who will judge you for your imperfections, people who use you as an outlet for their own insecurities, and people who misunderstand your intentions and take things personally.

The saying “there’s always haters at the top” is true. It means that you are in the spot light and more eyes are on you. So of course there will be a percentage of people who want to judge you, are jealous of you, or feel threatened by you.

I think my thoughts are best summarized in these 7 points by one of my favorite entrepreneurs Tim Ferris!

1. It doesn’t matter how many people don’t get it. What matters is how many people do.

“It’s critical in social media, as in life, to have a clear objective and not to lose sight of that,” Ferriss says. He argues that if your objective is to do the greatest good for the greatest number of people or to change the world in some small way (be it through a product or service), you only need to pick your first 1,000 fans — and carefully. “As long as you’re accomplishing your objectives, that 1,000 will lead to a cascading effect,” Ferriss explains. “The 10 million that don’t get it don’t matter.”

2. 10% of people will find a way to take anything personally. Expect it.

“People are least productive in reactive mode,” Ferriss states, before explaining that if you are expecting resistance and attackers, you can choose your response in advance, as opposed to reacting inappropriately. This, Ferriss says, will only multiply the problem. “Online I see people committing ’social media suicide’ all the time by one of two ways. Firstly by responding to all criticism, meaning you’re never going to find time to complete important milestones of your own, and by responding to things that don’t warrant a response.” This, says Ferriss, lends more credibility by driving traffic.

3. “Trying to get everyone to like you is a sign of mediocrity.” (Colin Powell)

“If you treat everyone the same and respond to everyone by apologizing or agreeing, you’re not going to be recognizing the best performers, and you’re not going to be improving the worst performers,” Ferriss says. “That guarantees you’ll get more behavior you don’t want and less you do.” That doesn’t mean never respond, Ferriss goes on to say, but be “tactical and strategic” when you do.

4. “If you are really effective at what you do, 95% of the things said about you will be negative.” (Scott Boras)

“This principle goes hand-in-hand with number two,” Ferriss says. “I actually keep this quote in my wallet because it is a reminder that the best people in almost any field are almost always the people who get the most criticism.” The bigger your impact, explains Ferriss (whose book is a New York Times, WSJ and BusinessWeek bestseller), and the larger the ambition and scale of your project, the more negativity you’ll encounter. Ferriss jokes he has haters “in about 35 languages.”

5. “If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid.” (Epictetus)

“Another way to phrase this is through a more recent quote from Elbert Hubbard,” Ferriss says. “‘To avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing.” Ferriss, who holds a Guinness World Record for the most consecutive tango spins, says he has learned to enjoy criticism over the years. Ferriss, using Roman philosophy to expand on his point, says: “Cato, who Seneca believed to be the perfect stoic, practiced this by wearing darker robes than was customary and by wearing no tunic. He expected to be ridiculed and he was, he did this to train himself to only be ashamed of those things that are truly worth being ashamed of. To do anything remotely interesting you need to train yourself to be effective at dealing with, responding to, even enjoying criticism… In fact, I would take the quote a step further and encourage people to actively pursue being thought foolish and stupid.”

6. “Living well is the best revenge.” (George Herbert)

“The best way to counter-attack a hater is to make it blatantly obvious that their attack has had no impact on you,” Ferriss advises. “That, and [show] how much fun you’re having!” Ferriss goes on to say that the best revenge is letting haters continue to live with their own resentment and anger, which most of the time has nothing to do with you in particular. “If a vessel contains acid and you pour some on an object, it’s still the vessel that sustains the most damage,” Ferriss says. “Don’t get angry, don’t get even — focus on living well and that will eat at them more than anything you can do.”

7. Keep calm and carry on.

The slogan “Keep Calm and Carry On” was originally produced by the British government during the Second World War as a propaganda message to comfort people in the face of Nazi invasion. Ferriss takes the message and applies it to today’s world. “Focus on impact, not approval. If you believe you can change the world, which I hope you do, do what you believe is right and expect resistance and expect attackers,” Ferriss concludes. “Keep calm and carry on!”

and now for a relaxing song by Michael Jackson:

mike tyson

“When I come out I have supreme confidence but I’m scared to death. I’m totally afraid. I’m afraid of everything. I’m afraid of losing. I’m afraid of being humiliated. But I’m totally confident. The closer I get to the ring the more confident I get; the closer, the more confident I get. The closer the more confident I get. All during my training I’ve been afraid of this man. I thought this man might be capable of beating me. I’ve dreamed of him beating me. But that I’ve always stayed afraid of him. The closer I get to the ring I’m more confident. Once I’m in the ring I’m a god. No one could beat me. I walk around the ring but I never take my eyes off my opponent – I keep my eyes on, even if he’s ready and pumping. He can’t wait to get his hands on me as well. I keep my eyes on him. I keep my eyes on him. Then once I see a chink in his armor, boom, one of his eyes may move, and then I know I have him. Then when he comes to the center of the ring, he still looks at me with his piercing look as if he’s not afraid. But he already made that mistake when he looked down for that one tenth of a second. I know I had him. He’ll fight hard for the first two or three rounds, but I know I already broke his spirit. During the fight I’m supremely confident. I’m moving my head; he’s throwing punches. I’m making him miss and I’m countering. I’m hitting him to the body; I’m punching him real hard. And I’m punching, and I’m punching him, and I know he’s not able to take my punches. One, two, three punches; I’m throwing punches in bunches. He goes down, he’s out. I’m victorious. Mike Tyson, greatest fighter that ever lived.”
- Mike Tyson

mike tyson champion

My brother came to visit over the weekend and we ended up watching the Tyson documentary. It was a really motivational documentary and gave you insight behind the man who was an undisputed heavyweight champion. Lots of good quotes to get me pumped for the week. I really like the quote above because when I read it I can just hear my heart beating as I visualize getting closer and closer to the competition floor.. and as I step on the floor all the tension vanishes and I am supremely confident. It’s both tense and peaceful.

This weekend I also watched JVCD, went to tea station with sherry, xj, zero, and eliver, practiced some cold reads, went to a pool party (but missed the swimming part), went to the gym, worked on wing chun, worked on some fight choreography, and helped carry some flags at a Buddhist ceremony. It was Buddha’s birthday this weekend and my aunt asked me and my cousin to help out. We ended up waking up at 6am on Sunday to help out with the ceremony. I did get to take a picture with a monk and help out Buddha at least.

Aside from my adventures this weekend, my trip to China is fast approaching. I’ve got tons on my mind. This trip to China is getting me thinking. First of all, I have to book my flight soon so that’s number 1 on my list. Aside from that I keep feeling like I am not getting enough done and that I’m losing sight of my goal. Last week I have been getting a really good amount of sales for my ecommerce, but it forced me to spend double the time responding to customer questions/exchanges/returns. Though I am increasing sales and can work remotely at the leisure of the foot of my bed or from nor cal / LA / wherever, I feel like I am getting too bogged down with getting orders, shipping products, fixing site bugs, news updates, and customer support, that it is diverting me from my goal to pursue entertainment.

I probably have to just let this growth settle in and let some processes streamline, but I guess the past week got me a little tied up in “work” as opposed to focus on my film projects. I think a huge reason why I’m writing today’s post is just to clear my thoughts. I have SOOO much stuff muddled in my head right now. Let me list some out: booking airline, travel schedule, visa, training wushu, training kickboxing, teaching private lessons, short film production negotiations, looking for new roommate, ecommerce online orders, demanding customers, getting a new vendor, real estate planning, cleaning, and misc errands.

Okay.. well writing them out helped. I think that when I have too much on my mind I can’t carry a normal conversation and my mind has all these “to do” items floating around. I hope I can knock these items off the list and slowly streamline certain things so that I can mainly focus on ONE thing. I want that one thing to be on the entertainment side this year. How can I not worry about anything else? I guess there will always be things that pop up and need to be handled, but I can take care of them more effectively and tie up loose projects.

In other random news – my episode on Deadliest Warrior Season 2 will be coming out in the next few days! I play stunts as a vietcong soldier!

There you have 2 samples of our pictures from the martial arts complete photo shoot. I’ve been posting a lot about my meet ups/interviews with people in entertainment, but I’ve been neglecting blogging about the other work that I’ve been up to. Lately at MAC we’ve been continuing with sponsorships and our ad campaigns. This all led up to some big meetings. I just had a meeting today discussing the distribution of Martial Arts Complete. I am happy with the progress we have made so far and expect more to come in the next month. We are at a pivotal development point!

With WK I just got a huge shipment of budosagas so I will be shipping out some backorders next week. The shoes look great and I finally got this prototype wushu shoe that I will be trying out next week. I already wore it and it feels totally comfortable so far… and this is without wearing it in. I plan to upload some more products and videos next week as well.

I’ve got a few other projects cookin as well, but I think I’m gunna turn my focus to the entertainment side of things now. You know.. originally I wanted to start an online business to give me a little side income to “free” myself from being tied to work and thus allow me to pursue what I enjoyed.. which was self expression / acting / martial arts performance… but lately I’ve been getting more and more tied up with business meetings and setting up sites and such that I am strongly reminding myself that the clocks ticking and I should be focusing on Plan A instead of Plan B.. because then Plan B becomes Plan A.

So speaking of entertainment – I am in fact making plans to shoot a few projects. I wrote a treatment for an action short film. Optimally I’d like this to be a 2 day shoot in June. I am also working on a web series with a friend. I love the concept, but we are still in the script writing stages. Last among my production projects is a youtube quality commercial for a gymnastics facility – more on this later.. but this one should be fun and less daunting than the other projects. This is all on the producing end – On the acting end, I am going to start hustling more once I get back from Nor Cal (I am up north for the weekend to help out at the CMAT tournament) and also auditioning and submitting myself more. Plan is to hit it hard before I go to China in August.

I’m still teaching a few students and things are going well with that. I also now teach at LA wushu more regularly. Good vibe there and we always get boba afterward! My workout schedule is: Mon, Fri tricking, Tues, Thurs sanda/kickboxing, Wed purely wushu. I always try to get in some wushu throughout all the workouts and also I do it when I’m teaching, but Wed is the day where I strictly focus on wushu. I feel like weekends I could also add in a wushu workout.. maybe Sunday. I’ll just have to work it in so that it becomes a routine. I am also feeling more and more comfortable with various back flips, wall flips, etc.

Lastly, travel – Although I usually operate on a last minute go with the flow basis, some pre-planning needs to start right now for my asia trip because of the Shanghai expo. Since there are so many people flying to China around that time.. I have to book my trip in advance.

Okay, I’m getting really tired and gotta wake up to go to CMAT tomorrow. I’m off!

R6 and Ducati 999

Met up with Steve, my kpmg/city national bank co-worker’s husband who rides a Ducati 999 and R1. We went to Azusa for some canyon riding! Woot! Had a blast and learned a lot. Ever since I’ve been traveling and getting my hustle on with filming and martial arts competitions, I’ve really neglected my baby (my R6) and today it was good getting my feet wet with riding the canyons. Hopefully, in a few months I will hit up the track. I’ll also have to save up to get one piece suit and some nice riding boots. I think boots are a must have.

Anyways, today was awesome and I came home exhausted. We rode for about 3-4 hours.. well including my travel time too. I gotta remember to look through my turns, shift my body over the line to the direction I want to turn, put my foot on the pegs and dont worry about the rear break so much, push down on left peg and right handle bar to make a tighter right turn (vice versa for other side), relax my arms, follow a smooth line, speed up through the turn, and accelerate out at the peak of the turn. I know some of this stuff is basic sounding, but it’s good to remind myself.

Afterward we went to a cool cafe for some coffee/food. I had a salad with chicken, apple, and mandarin oranges. Delicious! And since.. we lived to ride another day.. I treated myself to a root beer float! Steve is a fireman so he sees a lot of mortality and so we had a good discussion about perspective on life and death. I also commented that in cultures where your “job” does NOT define you.. and you wake up every day knowing the answer to “what do I wake up for every day?” as opposed to thinking that your being is tied to your job.. you will live a happier and healthier life… because ultimately we retire or no longer can work our jobs.. then those people sort of lose a sense of self and without a purpose we lose a part of our will to live.

Anyways, I think it’s healthy to be put in perspective with our mortality once in a while so I enjoyed that root beer float heartily!

Here’s me saying.. remember to keep the rubber side down! See you next time!

azusa canyon ride day

I think the title of the post says it all.. but just to announce it, I got my FIRST DONATION today!

THANK YOU TIGER SHARK! YEAR OF THE TIGER! Woot!

first donation

When I first set up my blog, I found this donation tool and put it up, but then after a month or so I took it down because I thought, who really cares about donating to me and it’s probably a stupid idea… and in fact!.. just a few days ago I was upgrading some plug-ins on the blog (just to make sure its spam and virus FREE!) I saw this “donate tool” O_o…. so I thought, I’m pretty unemployed; it couldn’t hurt to put it back up.

…and u know what miracles do happen. A few short days after I put the donate tool up, I got my first donation.

I want to say THANK YOU again.

I think these contributions big or small are helpful to me because for one thing.. I am unemployed. haha. I am not saying that I will starve, but when you give up stability for an unstable but passion filled future the more financial support you have, the easier it is to keep your wits about you and help you stay focused on purely doing what you do and achieving those goals. It shows me that people who are following my journey support what I am doing. To me, it means that I have made a connection in some way whether it’s just an entertaining post, an inspirational beam of hope, or a reflection of someone else’s life and goals. It helps me continue on my path towards success in business, entertainment, and martial arts. It helps me continue writing this chapter of my life’s story.

I don’t think I have mentioned this phase in my life yet.. because I probably didn’t feel it was relevant until this post.. BUT.. what are my plans if and when I achieve these goals I set out to do ?

I would like to re-focus my energies on creating a charity or foundation to spread good. I have not thought that far ahead as to what specific aims this foundation would focus on because its too far forward right now and things always change… I feel that when that time is near I will be inspired by something in my life and know what the focus should be on. In a general picture I think I am always in support of medical research, children, and the environment.

I guess I am just talking out loud again, but yeah, in addition to helping me “make it” in these goals I have.. I see it that anything that helps me and my businesses succeed is something that also helps my foundation succeed. I know that it is pretty presumptuous to think that I will be so successful that I can actually create such a foundation or non profit organization, but these are just my plans and I am verbalizing them. I don’t know what the future will bring I can only gravitate towards my goals and make them known so that if there are like-minded people our efforts can be in unison.

Enough philanthropy talk. Time for me to go train. =)

Taipei 101 New Years Eve moments before the countdown

I would summarize 2009 as the year of taking the leap and the year of pushing limits. It was a year filled with incredible experiences.

wushu training with the beijing wushu team

The day I made the US Wushu A Team

First of all 2009 was incredible in that it topped 2008 which was already a great year. In 2009 I yet again took a leave of absence and traveled to China to train for the US national wushu team trials. I was reunited with great wushu friends, beijing food, and intense training with the beijing wushu team. I can’t believe that was just this year because so much has happened this year. I came back to the US and enacted revenge on my 2007 Team Trials results. This year I finally made the US wushu team. In 2009 I fulfilled my LIFELONG dream to be on the A team of the US wushu team. There were moments of stress, fear, anxiety, friendship, excitement, ambition, and joy in all the millions of seconds that led me up to receiving my official certificate placing me on the 1st seat of the 2009 US wushu team. This alone would have made 2009 a memorable year among memorable years.

US Wushu A Team

2 Gold Medalists with JBJ reppin USA

To add to the excitement, this was the year I would finally take the plunge. I took a leap of faith to pursue my passions by quitting my stable corporate job. Boy do I not regret that move. It was something I thought of doing for a long time, but when I did it everything seemed to fall into place. It allowed me to devote more physical and mental energy to training for the World Wushu Championships! All the competitors at the 10th World Wushu Championships were eager to fight for their right to take home a medal for their country. Therefore, I think every extra second I trained helped me win my title as a World Champion in straight sword. There will always be a time to work on a career or make money, but this was my moment to seize a World Champion title and I did it! Fortunately for me my parents were there as well to witness that moment. I can’t describe how unbelievable it is to be able to think back on that day- especially since wushu has been such a big part of my life. This World Wushu Championships completed the circle on my wushu career. I wanted no regrets and I left with none. I wanted to be satisfied with my performance on ALL my forms not just straight sword and I was very happy with my performances in chang quan and qiang shu as well.

Smashing pots on Deadliest Warrior

butterfinger fight commercial

Playing the part of a sailor

In front of the camera I got on my first national and international TV show.  I got the part as the Shaolin Expert and lead shaolin monk protagonist on Spike TV’s Deadliest Warrior. My episode caught quite some publicity with the shaolin fighting and my eye gouging with the emei piercers.  It even aired in Canada and the UK! Aside from this show I also did my first green screen project with the History Channel and worked on 2 projects with good buddies David and Al Brocca. Projects followed projects and I got to do photo shoots and ended up getting featured articles in Masters Magazine and Kung Fu Magazine!

tea in store

Nicole promoting Angels Tea

In business WushuKicks has successfully grown from a project in the back of my head to an incorporated business that brings in consistent sales every month. We also got our google checkout badge, increased page rank, and made sales to well known clients such as Cirque du Soleil. I got my real estate license and am a recognized real estate agent. I also partnered up with a few entrepreneurs this year and learned and worked on many other business ventures including clothing, pokerbling, angels tea, and nutritional supplements. Angels Tea signed contracts with 3 retail locations that now offer our delicious flavors.

TST in Hong Kong

Friends in Taiwan

Mucho thanks to Ivy for looking out for me in business and entertainment in Taiwan

Big Thanks to Sarah and her family for making my Taiwan Adventures possible!

After the plunge to become an entertainer and entrepreneur I flew from Toronto to SF and before I could get over the time difference of Toronto and SF, I flew to Taipei.  During my stay in Asia, I went to Hong Kong and Macau as well. I met Daniel Wu and Victy Wong a member of the Jackie Chan stunt team. Both are people that I respect and people that have worked with Jackie Chan. =) I am still in Taipei as I write this, but will be heading home in 2 days. In Taipei I was interviewed by Channel 10 News and also interviewed on a famous variety show hosted by Zhang Fei. The friends and bonds I made here will definitely be lifelong ones. I achieved most of my goals for this trip which included getting more familiar with the entertainment industry, learning more chinese, and deciding whether I could or would like to live in Asia for an extended period of time.

I’ve fulfilled many goals this year including an 8 year long wushu dream, being on national tv, and watching the fireworks light up from the 101 building in Taipei. I think 2010 is a very bright year. I am looking forward with anticipation and excitement. I got my years of corporate experience and am ready to embark on a unpaved path as an entrepreneur. I have no excuses now and have put myself in a sink or swim situation. I predict success, but either way I am following my motto.. of living a life without regrets. On one path, I am more safe and know the outcome (which I know I will not be satisfied with), on the other I forge my own destiny to achieve greatness in the things I am passionate about.. in which I know that even without success, the memories built from doing something I am passionate about will already be more valuable than the safe path. In any case all I am saying is that 2010 is the year for this passion and excitement. It’s not to say that some time in the future, I won’t want more stability and calm.. but 2010 will not be that year. =)