ABC News Correspondent Bob Woodruff (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Woodruff) is an amazing friend and my journalist idol that I have known for nearly 3 years. I found him very funny, really kind, super smart, great looking and, he has an amazing survival story (Read his bio to see how a near death experience has changed his life!!) I was very very inspired by it and read the book 3 times already! Among all the celebrities I met, Bob is someone that I always admire!

When Bob said I am one of the most energetic people he have ever met, smart and funny, I was soooo flattered! =) 

Bob said China has more English speaking population than the entire America. He actually speaks Chinese. He started learning Chinese at University of Michigan years ago when not many people were studying Chinese. He also successful changed career from law to journalism and became one of the BEST journalists in USA as a ABC News reporter!

Bob and his beautiful wife Lee Woodruff co authored an amazing book called “In An Instant”!! I read 3 times already!! His unique life experience such as living in Beijing, having survived a near death experience and changing careers provided some great insights, advice and inspiration. You can get his book here:

http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9781400066674

http://www.amazon.com/Instant-Familys-Journey-Love-Healing/dp/0812978250/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1291087523&sr=8-1  or

Of course I told Bob about my Paradise Hunter global host contest and he was glad to hear my journey to reach top 2 voted in the world =) (www.paradisehunter.com/vote/Li-Jing.html)  It’s so amazing to hear Bob speaks fluent Beijing style Chinese and he definitely inspired me to chase my dream! Thank you Bob!

Bumped into American Idol star Katharine McPhee (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katharine_McPhee) at ABC today! She is so pretty and told me she was on Regis & Kelly show today-She has a new album out ” Christmas Is the Time to Say I Love You” on October 12, 2010. She is definitley a beautiful girl next door and tall! Then I went to pick out a dress from my lovely talented friend, celebrity designer Zang Toi (houseoftoi.com) for tomorrow’s charity event to raise money for homeless by mapc.com.  Zang is so into helping those in need that I was deeply touched. Great dress, great people, great cause!

Happy Early Thanksgiving my dearest friend!

I have officially been chosen to be world’s top 40 in Paradise Hunter global host contest as a semi finalist!!!!! As a Chinese immigrant & English not being my native language, I am thrilled to make it to top 40 out of nearly 700 applicants from 21 countries, I know this will not happen without YOUR HELP! THANK YOU SO SO MUCH!!

Voting has started NOW and will last for the next 3 weeks till about Dec 10. Top 5 voted will be the finalists to interview/screen test and the winner will be announced in Jan. Our goal is to be number 1 and the final winner, so these 3 weeks are the most critical time that YOU can make a difference! VOTE HERE!! www.paradisehunter.com/vote/Li-Jing.html

It’s not only to win this contest, but to inspire others to chase their dreams despite the odds! This is what you can do to help

1 VOTE EVERYDAY for the next 3 weeks! You don’t need to register your email, just put in verifications and it takes a few seconds! You can only vote once a day so pls share with friends to help our effort!

2 Email the link to all your friends, family to vote, you are inspiring them by sharing the message! Each vote does make a difference!

3 Post the link on your facebook page, twitter, community discussion boards, email lists and anywhere people can see!

4 Ask media to cover the story, post it on your blog to share with friends!

5 Suggest friends to add me on facebook, twitter via li2000 for updates on contest and our exciting voter’s lucky drawing sponsored by SHECKY’S! (sheckys.com)

Amazing achievement we have done for the 1st voting!

1 12261 votes, top 3 in US, top 5 in the world and the only Chinese in top 40!!

2 1230 facebook friends shared my voting link, which is like a 12 million visitor website’s post rate!!

3 4784 views on my voting youtube video!

4 A number of Chinese and American media covered my top voted story in USA including frontpage news by the largest Chinese website in North America sina.com (Alexa top 1 website) and the largest Chinese TV in NY sinovision!

5 Many celebrity voted and supported our effort from media, art and business across the world such as international celebrity pianist Lang Lang, celebrity fashion designer Zang Toi, NBC legendary anchor Chuck Scarborough, model/entrepreneur Melania Trump, TV “The Bachelor” star and entrepreneur Prince Lorenzo Borghese, the most famous woman in China by PEOPLE Yue-Sai Kan, NYC TV host Ornella Fado, WPIX host/reporter Kaity Tong and Howard Thompson, Actress Kerry Washington, Nightlife visionary CEO Chris Hoffman, Philip Chang head of Sinovision (the largest Chinese TV in NY) and NBC reporter Andrea Mitchell!

6 Generous voter’s sponsorship by America’s top lifestyle brand SHECKY’S (check out their BEAUTY NIGHT OUT AND GIRLS NIGHT OUT AROUND THE COUNTRY on sheckys.com))

If someone like me who barely spoke English 10 years ago can be voted top to host a TV show by the world, you can achieve your dream too! Another great news: our generous sponsor SHECKY’S will give out more voter prizes!!! =) due to the overwhelming amount of support we have! We will draw winners for the first round soon so stay tuned! 

Facebook: li2000 Twitter: lijingusa blog: lijing.tumblr.com I am so thankful to share this journey with you and be your friend!! VOTE & SHARE! THANK YOU!!!

The 20th Hong Kong Dragon Boast Festival (HKDBF) attracted more than 50 thousand people and 2000 participants from the U.S., Canada and Italy to Flushing New York this weekend.  It’s the most attended HKDBF in 20 years!  There was a 91 year old lady who came from Hong Kong for the event and a super excited Italian team which performed a dance off at the award ceremony.  It made everyone laugh and totally reflected the theme of the event: culture, fun and bringing people together!

I was also happy to have an interview with the very enthusiastic student reporter Cassie from Queen’s local high school. She was cheerful, prepared and asked great questions. It reminded me of how I started my career and my responsibility to educate and help our younger generation.