Booey Lehoo to the Mayor of LA!

After a brief hiatus, I’m finally back to update my blog. Whether I’m in work or family mode, it’s been difficult to find a nice pocket of time for myself to sit down and plop something down.  Since my last entry, I’ve learned that people actually one use one space after finishing off a sentence with a period when typing.  Funny…this is gonna be hard to get accustomed to because I’ve noticed I’m still using two spaces between sentences.  At the very least, I’ll be sure to make the effort to use only one space for my FHM articles so I’m curious myself to see if I can relearn punctuation.

Right now, I’m back in chilly Beijing to attend and host our Booey Lehoo Concert Festival at the American Chamber of Commerce…

Personally, I’m really excited about this entire initiative because it allows underprivileged students from the US to come to China to study abroad.  Over thirteen years ago, I made the decision to leave the US and come to Asia, and I’ve never looked back.  I still remember when my mother accompanied me to Taiwan to get settled in, and she never really understood why I wanted to come to Asia.  She knew I could barely speak any Chinese, and I had absolutely no relatives here too.  Nevertheless, I always believed that there could be opportunities to be discovered so I’ve stuck around in search of them.  I must confess it’s never been easy, but I soon realized that it’s truly not about the destination but the journey itself.  And after living in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and now China, I know that there is still much much more to be seen and experienced.

Today was a good example of one of those memorable moments.  The Mayor of Los Angeles was visiting Beijing, and we had the pleasure of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa join us for the Booey Lehoo press conference.  Growing up in Los Angeles myself, I would have assumed the odds of meeting the city’s mayor would be much higher back in the US.  However, I really doubt I would have had the opportunity to sit down and speak to the Mayor like I did today.  After I informed Mayor Villaraigosa that my brother works in the Los Angeles Fire Department, he told me that he wanted to give him a call.  I really thought he was just joking around.  Low and behold, the next thing I know I’m giving Danny’s LA mobile number away to the Mayor of LA so he can call him up.  Of course, I’m sure Danny initially thought it was a prank call.  But after a short while, he soon realized he was speaking to the “real bonafide deal,” and we all had a great laugh.  Albeit brief, I really enjoyed my time today with Mayor Villaraigosa, and we are all excited that the City of Los Angeles is onboard in supporting APSA (Americans Promoting Study Abroad) and its program to bring more US students to China.  If you happen to be in Beijing on December 17th and don’t mind attending a unique concert with some of the biggest stars from both the East and West, then please check out the official website for Booey Lehoo at:  http://www.booeylehoo.com

Happy Holidays and Hope to see you on December 17th for a rockin good time!!!