Predictions for 2007

After gazing into my crystal (meth) ball, I’ve come up with 10 random predictions for 2007:

10. Mel Gibson will release Apocalypto on DVD under its original title: Mayan Kampf.
9. Donald Rumsfeld will be named the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts.
8. Starbucks will run out of space and have to open a store inside an existing Starbucks, creating an overpriced rift in the space-time continuum.
7. The Wizard of Oz will pay a belated visit to the White House to give George W. Bush a brain, Dick Cheney a heart, and Condi Rice courage, but will be labeled an enemy combatant and sent to an undisclosed location for “rigorous interrogation.”
6. A young man’s wish to be reincarnated as a pair of Britney Spears’s undies backfires when he is never seen again.
5. Osama bin Laden will finally be found in the grotto at the Playboy Mansion, showing Miss February his personal “improvised exploding device.”
4. Kim Jong Il will launch a nuclear missile which falls short of the U.S. and hits the island from “Lost”, putting the show’s fans out of their misery.
3. Lindsay Lohan will give up alcohol and partying and find Jesus. A week later, Lindsay and Jesus will be spotted staggering out of a nightclub and puking up mojitos.
2. On “Grey’s Anatomy”, Meredith and McDreamy will have a baby, McPreemie.
1. I will save Steve Jobs’s life, and he will thank me by developing a personalized new Apple product: the iClaude (not sure what it does, but the ads will be cool).

Meeting a Hero

A couple of weeks ago, Ashley and I attended Koream Journal’s annual black-tie event honoring the achievements of Korean-Americans (and-Canadians).  Sandra Oh (Grey’s Anatomy) accepted her award via video from fellow Canadian and TV’s hottest artificial lifeform, Grace Park.  The music honoree was Joe Hahn from Linkin (no relation to Grace) Park, and the sports honoree was freestyle-skiing medalist Toby Dawson.  But the most impressive figure there that night, in my opinion, was seated to my left: Dr. Sammy Lee.

It’s understandable if you’re unfamiliar with Sammy Lee and his accomplishments.  He may not be as famous as Jesse Owens or Jim Thorpe, but Sammy Lee is a true pioneer, not only in American sports, but in American history.  He was the first Asian-American to win an Olympic gold medal for the U.S.  He won back-to-back gold medals in platform diving in 1948 and 1952, plus a bronze in springboard diving in 1948.

What makes Sammy’s accomplishments even more impressive is the fact that he achieved them in the face of blatant prejudice and discrimination.  In addition, he went to medical school and was a U.S. Army doctor when he competed in the Olympics.  Naturally, I was honored to sit next to him and speak with him.  Even better, he turned out to have a mischievous and salty personality.  My kind of guy.

Sammy is seated, bottom left, in the picture below.