So I’ve been in China and on the job for a bit now. I can say that my Chinese has improved, I’ve gotten to meet a lot more people, and I am definitely getting settled in to Asia.

With that said, a lot has happened since my last update… for one – Hong Kong Colin has come and gone back to China already. Colin and the rest of the Hong Kong wushu team were in Beijng for team training. It was good to see him. I was made into honorary HK Wushu Team when the whole team plus me went to go eat with the team coach. =) Colin even had his birthday at Mix during this span of time. We went out a bit while he was here like old times. =) He just headed back to HK a few days ago. The team is preparing for the Asian Games. Good luck Colin! Jia you!

Danika, Vanessa, and other friends were here from the sates too. It was good to see them in Beijing/at Colin’s Bday.

Climate Group

One of the events we went to during this time of settling in was The Climate Group event with Jet and Tony Blair. It was a discussion about how to improve efficiency in energy consumption. It was a closed door breakfast with a few other company head figures. Mr. Blair had uber secret service types around him… however on his way out from the meeting (to the elevator) as I waited for Jet, he looked me in the eye and said “hi”. Of course I replied hi as he vanished with security into the elevator.. haha =) so that was the extent of our dialogue.

Ritan Park

Last week my friend from the UNDP introduced me to Ritan Park. It’s a very beautiful park with trees that have been around for thousands of years. We ate some really awesome Beijing style food… our lunch wasn’t cheap, but lunch was well worth it for the taste and ambiance (and good company of course!).

Delicious dish and fish

Haha I know that normally you’re supposed to take pictures when the food first arrives and looks all pretty.. but it was so delicious that I decided to take a picture of the aftermath.. after we devoured all the delicious dishes.

So my last update is going to be about Health and Exercise. When I first got here I was wayyy too focused on getting acclimated to my surroundings and job.. as is understandable. I’ve ended up traveling to some very nice hotels, restaurants, etc which means good eats. Good eats combined with pressure from a new job setting plus very little working out created a bad combination for my fitness standards. As a result, I decided to get back into shape!

My good buddy Andy Tong who is a CEO and amateur body builder created a very disciplined diet/workout program for himself and got ridiculously in shape in 6 months. He documented and posted his results for 6 months straight. Inspired by my buddy Andy’s program combined with the fact that the 2010 Sport Accord Combat Games, which I will be competing in, are coming up — I decided to get back into fitness mode. I set a 2 month goal to be way more ripped and have a healthier diet. I started this program for myself August 8th, 2010. I have managed to work out once or twice every day since August 8th so far. I have also decided to minimize red meat and in particular decrease pork consumption. I am trying to eat less simple carbs and more fiber and protein to match my workouts. Here are the results of my diet and exercise execution from August 8th until now:

2 Month Fitness Goal

I’m not planning to be as strict on my diet and exercise program as Andy because my job requirements are a little more sporadic + I still want to enjoy some new awesome cuisines and I’m not trying to enter any bodybuilding magazines. I’m just doing this for myself and to feel healthier. Also for functional wushu/martial arts training I want to stay more flexible and quick as opposed to being too big which could hinder some of the acrobatic moves in wushu.

I’m going to head over to the gym soon and do some swimming and lifting. Tomorrow we head out to a One Foundation event. I think my coworker and I might go for Hutong Pizza tonight! =) Peace!

A Day in the Life of Alfred Hsing – July 24th, 2010

Recently over dinner I met someone who mentioned a project called “Life in a Day“. I saw a short clip of it a few days ago.. and then lo and behold I log in to YouTube today and see it boldly blasting all over the place. Today is “YouTube Filming Day” for the project of Life in a Day.

Life In A Day is a historic global experiment to create a user-generated documentary film shot in a single day. This experimental documentary will be executive produced by Ridley Scott and directed by Oscar winning director Kevin Macdonald. The film will premier at the Sundance Film Festival Jan 2011.

It also just so happens that July 24th and 25th (which is still the 24th in the US) are the only days I will have YouTube access because I’ll be back in China tomorrow (where YouTube is blocked). Thus I felt some calling to document my life on this day… and plus I had been meaning to create a video on “A Day in the Life of Alfred Hsing“.

Let me know what you guys thing because I plan to submit this tomorrow.

In other news, I created a new website – www.alfredrocks.com

alfredrocks.com

I’ve always had the domain alfredrocks.com, but before it simply linked to a blogspot page. Now that I am getting more involved in production and acting, I felt it was only right to have a clean simple page with my head shot, demo reel, and resume – all of which are on the site. =)

There are still a few minor changes I might make to both the “Life in a Day” short and my new alfredrocks.com site. Overall they were both fun to work on. Feel free to leave feedback!

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

Me and Jason - Final Sanda Training before China

This may be my last post from the US in a while because for those of you who don’t know.. I am MOVING TO CHINA TODAY! I kind of can’t believe it myself that I am re-locating to China. I’ve always wanted to live out there for over a year, but I’ve always had various reasons why I had to be back in the US. Now I have the perfect reason. I got an amazing job opportunity in China and there is no better reason or time to be out there than NOW!

That being said, I still want to update you guys on everything I’ve been up to aside from the move. I’ve honestly been so busy the past 3 weeks that I haven’t even had time to sit down and spend 20 minutes updating my blog.

The Move
I’m not even sure where to start. Let’s see – So about 3 weeks ago I get a call on a bright and early morning. I’m still half asleep when I get a phone call. I pick up. It’s an international number. It ends up being an interview for a job that I applied to. Fast forward a few days later; I got the job and I am told that I need to fly out to China in about less than 3 weeks! Yikes! In less than 24 hours I decided this was the right thing for me to do… and I decided to make the move.

I now had to cancel my trip that I had ALREADY booked for August for the 2010 Sport Accord Combat Games, which I will still be competing in, and I had to get a visa rush processed since there was so little time. I turn my passport over to my travel agent.. and gadzooks! my passport pages are FULL (darn all that other traveling) so now I have to do an expedited “add pages” to my passport. Meanwhile I also had to get a visa done on my Taiwan passport, but I needed my US passport in order to process some paperwork.. which made things cut very close!

There were sooo many other things I had to do. To list a few, I had to find a new roommate to take up my room, sell or have someone look after my car, work out logistics with wushukicks, say farewell to friends and family, pack, buy new luggage because my old one broke, purchase new airline tickets, and clean out my place since I was moving out.

WushuKicks
For my online business, I had to make it fully functional while being on the go. It was close, but still needed some crazy intense upgrades to be done in 3 days. I created an auto-responder for customer support because I noticed a lot of people were asking the same questions so I forwarded people to the Frequently Asked Questions part of my page.. which I also heavily updated to reflect the most common questions. I then created 2 more team emails where one person would be a backup to handle order processing if I was not available and another staff would handle customer support questions only. I changed a few policies of the business so that things were more clear cut and less dependent on my personal decision making.

I spent 2 weeks negotiating with UPS and my merchant services for better rates. I got them, but I don’t think it was as helpful as I had hoped for. At least I got my shipper account set up with automated billing. I also put my inventory in the hands of 2 trust worthy people and voila…! Let’s see if wushukicks can run while I am traveling, in china, and internet-less (from time to time).

Farewell Party
I had a small going away dinner with some former co-workers and friends that I have and haven’t seen in a while. All I can say is I had a good time seeing all my friends in one place and the positivity and support lit my face up in uncontrollable smiles.

Sweep the leg

The Karate Kid Demo
The next day let’s just say I was the worse for wear and had a long night… but I still had to be up early. I think I was up by 8am (which is how early Ive been getting up for the past week despite sleeping after midnight). I ended up running around doing all sorts of errands only to finally muster up the strength to drive out to Whittier to do a DEMO for a theater’s opening night of The Karate Kid. It took an hour to get there in traffic and I almost fell asleep twice. My buddy Adam was not helping either because he was practically falling asleep as well. We have both had crazy schedules and he booked a voiceover on a Disney show as a lead/regular… so congrats to him too!

We got there and demoed. It was cool… just a standard demo.. and afterward we got to watch The Karate Kid for free. A lot of people are talking about the name and how it’s just a marketing ploy. In the movie itself it does justify the name the “karate” kid to some degree. Also, it stays true to the premise of the original, but yet still is its own unique movie with its own powerful cast that holds its own. The movie definitely struck a cord when Jaden gets on the Air China flight moving to a place so far from home… I knew that a few days later I would also be boarding an Air China flight and making a very big move in my life. I liked Jaden’s performance and the relationship development between him and the girl that he likes. I would recommend watching this movie.

Nor Cal
So I stumble home after the movie around midnight.. because the movie is kinda long and I went to eat pho with Adam afterward. I start to pack for my drive up north AND pack for my move to China.. but I don’t make it passed 2 socks and I pass out asleep on the floor of my room. I was THAT tired! I wake up at 4am and continue packing. It takes me super long because I am not just packing to go up north I am sorting out what I want to bring to China and what I want to bring home and leave at home. I finally start driving up north at 9am but have to make 3 stops just to rest my eyes because I was starting to fall asleep by 11am.

At 3:30PM I run into the Kung Fu Magazine Tiger Claw tournament to support the Wild Aid event. I performed part of my longfist with a few ditang falls! The registration money was donated to help save Tigers for the Wild Aid foundation. I was glad to support my friends at Tiger Claw and the Tigers. Also ran into Dean, Kunyu, Emilio, Cao Yue, Peggy, and other wushu people. I had to cut out soon after the Wild Aid event because I was dead tired and my house was in my car. That night I hung out with my boys E and Hue. The following day I did a photoshoot for Kung Fu Magazine. The last day up north I visited my friend Mike at Google. Google has an amazing campus. The vibe is very casual and cool! I had some lunch there and was surprised (though I shouldn’t have been) that they even do google analytics on their dining halls! Then my bro took me to the airport to return to LA.

Google Campus

Brothers

My good friend Rel picked me up from the airport.. then I jammed over to teach my last wushu lesson with Geeta. She has learned a ton in our few short classes.

…well that pretty much leads up to where I am now.. a few hours away from meeting up with some so cal fam and getting on board my flight in a few hours. I am going to continue doing some last minute packing, but before I close this final US post… please keep updated with me everyone. I am so grateful for all my friends and I don’t want to just disappear, but this is definitely a journey I need to undertake! I hear that facebook and google are relatively inaccessible in China so keep in touch with me via my blog, email, or any other means. If you don’t hear from me it’s probably because I am traveling or in a place with limited access.

Today is the day I make my move to China! Let’s see what’s in store! =)

Breaking News: 2010 Winter Olympics CTV Report

Last I left off, my friend Audrey and I were running into Olympic athletes by the Olympic Village. Well, it just so happens that we ran into a few more.

Canadian Olympic Aerialists

There were a whole bunch of street performances and we bumped into a couple of athletes on their day off. The guys above represented team Canada in skiing and aerials.

My old roommate Matt also kept raving about this delicious hai nam chicken at his friends restaurant so Audrey and I went to check it out.

It was in fact the most delicious Hai Nam Chicken I have ever had!

Hai Nam Chicken

Just looking at it makes my mouth water… =P

So crazy story- The crazy friends I ran into decided to invite me over to their apartment (right over downtown/robson st) to watch the US vs Canada hockey game. This was a huge game. The US started off with a lead and then the score tied, but right before each break the US would be up by 1. As you all know Canadians LOVE hockey and the streets were filled with Canadians (by the way I got love for Canada, but of course we were thrilled to be supporting team USA). We decided to run down to the local bar downstairs with blazing Red White and Blue cheering amongst the “Go Canada” cheers.

USA vs Canada Hockey Game

Well some drunk fans decided to follow us home after we drank our beers at the bar. At first no one else in my party noticed that people were running after us (2 guys and 1 girl.. and the girl was like the first to get aggressive with us) and then as we got to the apartment gate I said hey turn around guys.. as we turned around they slowed their run and then said.. “oh hey, u live here?.. umm you must know the score right?” Anyways, as the conversation progressed it got more heated. In the end the last part of the game was about to start and I told them to relax and and we decided it wasn’t worth it to argue with some drunk people who were looking to start shit. In the end the US won 5-3 and it was an exciting game. My friends had to go catch another game live so right after they packed up and head out. I think if we ran around the streets in hardcore USA gear after that game there definitely would’ve been more heated confrontations. haha all in all exciting day though!

The last day of my trip was a little more calm. Lydia’s mom works for Fairchild Media Group on a radio station FM96.1 and also has a TV show on channel 180 that broadcasts throughout Canada so when we met and she found out about what I’ve been up to lately with wushu and acting she decided to have me on air as a guest.

Here’s a clip of me in the studio.

The interview was mainly in Chinese and it made me continue to realize how important it is for me to practice my Chinese. We also did a separate taping for a TV show where she has guests come in. She has interviewed hundreds of celebrities including DONNIE YEN.. so yeah, I was excited to be a guest on her show! =)

Here is a pic of me and aunt Carmen.

Fairchild Media Group

If you’ll notice my shirt.. it’s pretty funny. I bought it in Vancouver, but its apparently a US brand – called David and Goliath. I bought some shirts for a few friends. Here is a really funny one that I didn’t  end up buying, but I had to take a picture.

gold digger

My return to LA was quite smooth because they check all your immigration information over on the Canada side. That was quite interesting. I’m back in LA for the third time this year and been getting back to work.

Upon my return I immediately jam packed my schedule and met up with a producer friend to watch a rough cut of a pilot we worked on. I was a little afraid of the outcome because it’s supposed to be funny and if I didn’t think it was funny, I would be pretty let down. It’s not done yet, but I was definitely laughing so I am looking forward to the finished version. We have to do some pick ups and film more next weekend, but then it should be done and ready to pitch to some networks in a month or two.

Lastly as a favor to my buddy Andy (CEO of an online gaming company), he asked me to help him get some professional pictures that he could use for newsletters and press releases. I wanted to put my Nikon D60 to use so I snapped away. He seemed pretty satisfied with the results and I feel a lot more comfortable getting the shots that people want and finding a look that people want to see. This is not the final profile shot he chose, but it’s a picture that I could imagine in some entrepreneur magazine, so I went ahead and slapped this picture together for fun.

Alright, that’s it for the epic last minute Olympic Adventure. I will update you on the latest work and business developments next time! Cheers!

Alfred Hsing and Maria Lamb at the 2010 Winter Olympics!

Well, it’s been only 1 1/2 days and my trip already has been filled with quite the excitement. First let me recount my Jason Bourne type adventure at the airport. Originally, a friend asked me to help out a little with some business in Canada. He had some work visa issues, so the whole thing was canceled. One of his other friends was deported a day before I flew in to Canada due to these issues. I fly in not thinking much of the situation because I am going to Vancouver to have a good time and hang out with some friends while taking in the Olympic atmosphere.

After I arrive to the airport, I pass immigration and head for the door. I am politely directed to this long white room with metal desks – It’s the interrogation room! I wait for quite some time and then get grilled for like an hour and then the officer takes my passport back into this information room and tells me to wait. I wait for what seems like 40 minutes before she comes back out. She comes out and says that the jig is up! “I am just going to come out with it, we know what you and your buddies are up to. You going to come clean or keep up with this story? We know about this Beard Head operation”

At that point I tell her what happened – that I was going to help out, but due to work visa issues, the whole thing was canceled and I was going to meet up some friends and enjoy Vancouver. After a few more questions and jotting down my information I am finally let go.

I am glad the whole situation was able to be cleared up, but it was an interesting experience! I felt like I was in a CIA movie.. although it probably would not have been fun to be deported!

FORTUNATELY, I was not deported because….. I got to meet USA Women’s Olympic Team Speed Skater Maria Lamb today! In 2005, she was the U.S. National Allround Champion and she holds Junior records in the 3000m and 1500m as well as the Allround Points National record holder. Maria Lamb skated at the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Torino in the 1500m and Team Pursuit. I ran into her (while wearing my beard head) and she was gracious enough to take some speed skating pictures with me and my friend Audrey. In the picture above (at the top) I am doing the push/glide move for straightaways and she is doing the starting line pose! Busting out my 6 years of speed skating skills for the win! Speed skating is one of my favorite winter game events because I used to do inline and ice many years ago and when I watch them I get to relive some of those moments. I also saw some olympic athletes in their team jackets running and doing warm ups… my blood started rushing thinking about the warm ups I did a day or two before world championships in Toronto. I am totally reliving certain moments just being in this environment and feeling the thoughts and energies going through these athletes’ minds.

Vancouver Olympics Japans Mens Snowboarding Team

We also bumped into Japan’s olympic snowboarding team members. The guy on my right does half pipe! and…. if you didn’t notice… thats right! The one and ONLY Beard Head that actually made it across the border! This one is NOT for sale. It’s my personal face warmer and it’s doing a good job. This is a personal shout out to David – Even though you couldn’t sell them here a TON of people have been giving me great comments and feedback and more than 1 person has asked where they can get them! =)

Here is a pic of my friend Lyd and her twin sister Fara. She showed me around Yaletown and Gas town the night I arrived and I had tasty tuna crepe (maybe cuz I was starving..) I barely ate anything since I got on the plane.

First day in Vancouver for the winter olympics

Then a little Canada love?

USA Canada. Misguided Allegiances?

NOPE! USA ALL THE WAY BABY!!

Team USA at the Vancouver Olympics

I randomly ran into my friend Jacob.. and we actually both didn’t notice each other! We were both just yelling and screaming GO USA and celebrating until I did a double take and saw it was none other than myspace worker drift and club photographer JacobPhoto!

All in all, the atmosphere has been great and this trip has definitely been worth it. I am so thankful for having a place to stay with friends and I hope Team USA and all the athletes here in Vancouver have the performance of their lives!

my homie lyd

Crazy 24 hours. Beard Head mission aborted due to work visa issues.. so now I do not have an all expense paid trip to Vancouver.. but we had a 1 way non refundable ticket to Vancouver… also I had no place to stay.

So… all within 2-3 hours this morning I booked a one way return flight for Tuesday and found a place to stay. My fam friend Lyd is awesome and is gunna let me crash at her uncles place. Now I won’t be doing any work, but just taking in the sights of the Olympics. I also managed to get a little bit of work done today as well. I updated a thumbnail for wushukicks on the 18th Annual CMAT martial arts tournament page (see it here! http://cmat.ucmap.org/) and handled vehicle registration and well as some other misc work.

I have to head to the airport soon.. in about 2 hours but anyways just wanted to do a quick update on my crazy winter olympics situation.

I hope to watch the men’s 1500m speed skating and or figure skating over the weekend.. but aside from that I will be playing everything by ear. Hopefully I’ll spend a few days with good friends and have a good time and come back in one piece. Cheers!

2010 winter olympics vancouver

Well, I’m going to keep this entry short but sweet. I’m off to the 2010 VANCOUVER HOSTED WINTER OLYMPICS!! WOOOT! I will be flying in to vancouver Wed. night. Anyone around the van area give me a holler before I head out.

My friend has a business called Beard Head and due to various circumstances was unable to go sell his product in vancouver, so he is having me and a few other friends help manage the sales in vancouver. Meanwhile we should be staying at a pretty cool condo near the olympic games and hopefully checking out some cool events and parties. This will be my first olympics and its also been quite a while since I was in vancouver… though I was just in Toronto not too long ago.

As I said, short but sweet. See you all at the games!

beard head

Cheers to Beard Head for making this awesome trip possible. Please check out these awesome beard caps at www.beardhead.com.

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. =)

Recently found an agency that is going to submit me for some tv shows, commercial, and films in Taiwan. They needed a few different looks to get me started. Just feeling it out over here in Asia. We’ll see how it goes.

Here are a few pics =)

Hiking Look

Did I just hear my phone ring?

Alfred Hsing Side Kick

Remembering something funny from last week.

What am I thinkin about?

One wushu pose is never enough.