Start on positive note

You always want to start the year on a positive note. So this 2014, singer and stand-up comedian Kim Idol is promising himself one thing: He will try harder and do better and realize his full potential.

At the close of 2013, Kim took a long, hard look at his life and career and arrived at the following conclusion: He wasn’t doing enough to challenge himself. He was working, he was doing shows, and he was content and happy with what he’d achieved, but he had also grown a bit too comfortable. People around him, including his road manager Jonathan Valdez, felt he could be — and should be — doing so much more. He wasn’t a nobody, but at some point, Kim realized that had he really and seriously focused on his career, he could have become a much bigger star in the world of stand-up comedy and live performance. “Dumaan ako sa isang matinding proseso ng evolution,” says Kim, who is Michael Argente in real life. “Na-realize ko nga na parang masyadong laid-back ako noong mga nakaraang taon.”

If he had all those achievements despite not pushing himself hard enough, he could potentially have doubled, maybe even tripled, his achievements — and he admits that. “Dati, parang ang dami-daming nangyari sa akin na hindi mo maiisip na mangyayari sa isang tao na hindi nagseseryoso sa trabaho ko. Well, hindi naman sa hindi ko siniseryoso; siguro ang mas tama na term, hindi ko in-effort-an. Pero still, at par ako dun sa mga taong nag-e-effort. So what more kung mag-e-effort ako, di ba? Yun din ang naisip ko. Kasi sabi sa kin ng mga kilala ko, ‘Kim, ang dami-dami mong narating kahit relax na relax ka lang. So what more kung mag-fo-focus ka?’ So that’s what I’ll do this year. Ngayong 2014, I can say, mas bago yung pagkatao ko. Ngayon, I’m up to challenges. Parang kahit ano pa ‘yan, ‘Bring it on, kaya ko yan! Mag-fo-focus ako. Gagawin ko yung mga di ko masyadong kinarir noon.”

He had a good year last year, but acknowledges it could’ve been better. That realization drove him to a desire to work harder, better and smarter in 2014. For starters, he plans to go back to the gym, work out and get himself into shape so he can be sure that his body is up to the challenge. He even came up with a hashtag for his 2014 action plan: #PlanFocusActAchieve. “Very positive, di ba?” he grins.

According to him, it all boils down to one thing: Having focus and thinking big. All the dreams and plans that he was too scared to achieve before, he wants to go for in a big way. There’s no holding back. “Now, I want a better me,” he says. “Gusto ko lahat, sobra. Sobra yung kinikita, maraming naiipon, maraming napupuntahan, mas nagagalingan ang mga nanonood sa akin, mas nakakapagpasaya ako ng tao. Hindi pwedeng sakto lang, dapat sobra. Ito, hindi ito para sa kin, para ito sa nanonood sa kin, para maramdaman nila na yung binabayad nila, makukuha nila yung worth ng pera nila.”

He already has a strong base to build on. Kim has regular shows at Klownz comedy bar with Allan K and Ate Gay every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. He also performs every Wednesday with Ate Gay, then with Allan K, at Zirkoh Tomas Morato. On Fridays, he is with his group called Talentadings, which he formed with two other gay stand-up comedians named Joel and Al Arayata. But Kim says his goal this year is to go all-out. Aside from a forthcoming tour of Europe and the United Kingdom with Ate Gay, Kim is seriously considering to bag a regular role in a TV show or teleserye and to stage his own comedy concert series at a place like the Music Museum. With all his years of experience in stand-up comedy, one could say that this is something that Kim  has been in training all his life.

Kim can’t wait to put his plan into action — and this is the year to do it. “Year 2014, year of the Wooden Horse, di ba? This may sound very strange, pero nararamdaman ko talaga na ito na yung taon. Nararamdaman ko. Di ko lang taon ha, taon nating lahat. Ang ganda; kung may nais kang baguhin sa sarili mo, this is the year. Kaya dapat simulan natin, ngayon pa lang, i-try nating lahat, magbago na tayo!” he urges.