How Kuya Kim got his agimat

Curtain-raisers:

•  What’s wrong with this scenario? An actress (who is now only seen on TV and in movies only occasionally) has obviously fallen (madly?) in love with her handsome-as-an-actor physical trainor. As the song goes, It’s not the pale moon that excites me, that thrills and delights me, oh no. It’s just the nearness of you. You guessed it: Familiarity breeds a romance under wraps. So what’s wrong with a man and a woman falling (madly?) in love? Well, the lovers are both married. Her lover has kids with his wife who learned about the “secret romance” through the text messages and the e-mails the lovers have been exchanging for more than three years now. The Funfare DPA said that the lovers have a “joint plan” (whatever it is). Now, is there anything wrong with this scenario?

• The plan of another actress, separated from her actor-husband, to marry her non-showbiz boyfriend last 08.08.08 went pffft and those close to her have been wondering why. The marriage has been annulled, the actor-husband has found a new love, so the actress deserves a second happiness, too, doesn’t she? Let’s hope that their aborted plan would be pushed through on Sept. 7, 2008 which is, according to feng shui experts, the real 08.08.08 according to the Chinese calendar which is a month behind the Roman calendar followed by westerners.

• Still another actress, also separated from her actor-husband and whose marriage has been annulled, wanted desperately to get married last 08.08.08 and had been announcing it to friends who told her, “Go ahead, good luck!” Laughing as though the joke was on her friends, the actress said, “But I had a little problem. I was ready to get married but I haven’t found the right man yet.” Ah, so? Let’s wish her good luck as she continues “searching.”

Everytime you watch Kim Atienza on his ABS-CBN Matang Lawin (Sundays as pre-programming for ASAP ’08), you must be wondering why he can engage in so many risky (read: life-threatening) adventures and remains unscathed. Yes, your and my Kuya Kim actually has an agimat (amulet) embedded in his upper right arm. How did he get it?

“It’s a small piece of a golden chalice from the 14th century given to me by a certain Ka Piling four months ago when we shot our third episode for Matang Lawin in Mt. Banahaw,” said Kuya Kim. “He asked me to say a certain prayer while he was planting the agimat in my arm. Believe it or not, but there was no blood when he cut my arm with his fingers! He reminded me not to use the agimat for any karahasan (violence) or it would lose its power.” 

But even with his agimat, Kuya Kim still takes the necessary precautions, such as wearing boots and protective garments because he has to deal with animals most of the time. “But the best protection is knowledge,” he insisted.

For example, he said that police dogs are protective of the masters, “That’s why you should ask the master’s permission first before you shake his hand; otherwise, the police dog might bite you because it would suspect that you are harming the master.” Like dogs, cats are carriers of rabies, “So you should avoid being bitten by them.” And did you know that the alikabok (ashen) bird-shit is cancerous?

Although he’s an animal-lover and animals love him in return, Kuya Kim has had bad encounters with some of them. He has been bitten by a rattle snake (non-poisonous). “The more you know the animals, the more you should be careful,” he warned.

Aside from Matang Lawin, Monday through Friday Kuya Kim also co-hosts the ABS-CBN early-morning show Umagang Kay Ganda (UKG) and acts as the weather man of the same station’s TV Patrol World.

“I start my day at 3:30 a.m. From 5:30 to 8:30, I’m at ABS-CBN for UKG. From 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., I shoot for Matang Lawin and from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. for TV Patrol. I’m home by 7:30 and have dinner with my wife and children. My bedtime is before 9 p.m.” (Kuya Kim and his wife Felicia Hung have three children: Jose, six; Maimai, four; and Emman, two.) “Saturdays and Sundays I don’t work. They are strictly family days.”

Family includes his dozens of pets which can make up a whole zoo.

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