Rewind: 2005

My lil sister reading both Buyer’s Guide and Grab It!! Both free magazines were making their names in Brunei and they survived through means of advertisements. The business model didn’t pull through and now the only notable free magazine that’s worthy is BIG Magazine

Hmmm… This was a huge hit back in 2005. Blogs were “mushrooming” and Facebook hadn’t impact Brunei just yet. I remember there were more than 1,000 bloggers listed in Simpur Blogging Nation but now it has left in the stagnant stage after the influx of Facebook and Twitter

This is one of the reasons why RA had a huge surge in traffic – women’s football. I remember the rivalry of Sirens FC and Dragonfly FC made every tournament interesting. Women’s football then faced its darkest hour as it was banned in 2006.

The good old days before “Superfriends” were born, the clique “RA6” was formed among my peers! I was nicknamed Randy for a reason. Keeran (left) was known as o’Murphy for his Irish blood *lol* and this was taken during one of our trips to Singapore back in 2005. The far end was Bambi and Godfather who were catching up with their sleep

When softball was revived back in 2005, it became popular once again. However, bringing new blood was a tough transition as it was the seniors who dominated the softball scene. Robin (below) of Black Arrows is a dedicated softball player and man, you looked slim before

This was the last public performance by a foreign artist. I wouldn’t say the last but these were troubled times where approval for concerts and foreign artists became strict. The AF stars were the main draw for The Empire’s New Years celebration coming to 2006 and they were the last foreign act to appear for The Empire’s new year celebration.

Blitz FC came about a little late when women’s football was picking up

This was one of the costume parties held at the Baze back in 2005. I was dressed as the Riddler and I had to improvise by using my Baju Melayu to good effect *lol*

This was one of the turning points where I managed to create a culture of Winning Eleven/Pro Evo tournaments in Brunei. I had mini tournaments at Crowne Princess Hotel, The Empire Cinema, The Orchid Garden Hotel and finally Brunei Cyber Games at ICC. This was taken at The Empire Cinema cafe and we had 40 entrants then. Now we are averaging at 200 to 300 participants. How things have changed…

One reason why I enjoyed watching the ladies softball team was the presence of Izzah of Comets. She was a good batter and also an efficient catcher. Comets was one of the strongest team then.

Woww… This is a classic picture with Sharon and Fidz. I can’t even remember where we took this pic.

This was Jenny’s big day and for first time, my RA hits tripled as readers were interested to see pictures and updates of Jenny’s wedding. Interesting..

This was another ladies football team that was pretty active in tournaments

Remember the big flood… Well, this was five years ago and the car couldn’t see the road properly and ended up in the drain.