"The comment that Simon gave to me ... calling me a fish on the slab? I probably lived with that for a whole year after the show," said Segundo, loudly and clearly enough to turn heads in the semi-crowded cafe we meet in. "I still get it now. People still bring it up."

The difference between this fall afternoon and the winter evening 19 months ago, when Hawai'i's first-ever "American Idol" finalist was unceremoniously dumped from the Top 32?

Confidence, baby!

For one thing, Segundo has a CD coming out. His first, after a full year of work on it. It's set for November release and stocked with compositions either written or co-written by Segundo himself plus a few covers.

He's 19, single, easy on the eyes and better trained vocally today than he was on his "Idol" night.

"Looking back on my time on 'American Idol,' I can now say that I was very shy compared to where I am now," said Segundo, sagely. "When I was there, I kind of stayed behind the scenes and let everyone do their thing. When I was asked to perform, I would just go up there.

"I was only 17 years old then and still in high school. Everything was just brand new to me — being in Los Angeles ... everything."

And now?

Days not spent in his second year of classes at Honolulu Community College are spent giving talks to school kids, taking lessons from famed local voice coach Neva Rego, planning performances and writing songs.

Evenings are occupied working in producer Dave Tucciarone's Salt Lake studio on the upcoming CD. Post-Idol, Segundo was given much advice to rush out a CD to quickly cash in on his fame. He chose to take his time and record a debut he could be happy with.

Segundo describes the still untitled CD's mix of songs as "pop contemporary ... Island contemporary." Naturally, he hopes it sells well. But Segundo is mostly anxious to just have it out in stores.

"You never know how the public is going to react to your music. Especially on a first album," Segundo said. "So I can only hope that people love the songs ... and hope they touch some lives."

He'll promote the CD locally and on the Mainland. Performances in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Las Vegas are scheduled through the end of the year. And the part-Filipino Segundo hopes to travel to the Philippines — where his popularity is minimal, but "American Idol" is huge — next year for performances.

"The ultimate goal — and I don't want to jinx this — is I definitely want to be a big star one day," Segundo said. "I know it can happen. That's my dream."