Being slow is the only constant too. That’s how I feel lately. Things are just heading at a slow pace. The only difference is when I travel. Being away in a short span of time gives me a sense of excitement and thrill. Now I’m back in Brunei, it’s back to square one. I can feel it. The worrying signs, perhaps, of what’s in store for the country (economically). The headlines in the local media hasn’t help either but it’s good thing that it’s being identified because we cannot simply ignore it. It’s about time we step and see what we can do for the country in times of troubles.

I have two mutual friends who sought for help to see if I could connect them to the relevant authorities with regards to their termination of contracts. In recent headlines, it was stated that a major company (government linked) are carrying out “redundancy exercise” to cut costs and reducing “non-essential staff”. Of course, what we read in headlines will spark that fear that haven’t been teased for a very long, long time. We were in the comfort zone and now we are slowly getting a taste of reality checks.

Now with the ongoing LegCo, it’s an indication where our country will be heading for the next year or so, in reaching the Vision 2035 (which is in 19 years’ time). It was noted that government spending will be reduced in times of lower revenues and we will still be running in a deficit.

I still see hope in this country and I trust in the Brunei Government in overcoming the challenges. The transitional period will take some time but it’s a good start. The relevant government agencies have been pro-active in creating new bodies to see how Brunei can diversify and get out of the mentality of heavily depending on oil and gas as our revenue stream for the Brunei economy.

I’ve seen new bodies with government support being created such as DARe (Darussalam Enterprise), a statutory body that will help to empower local entrepreneurs in contributing to the local economy. The newly established is recognized in the LegCo recently and it is spearheaded by the Minister of Energy and Industry Yang Berhormat Pehin Datu Singamanteri Colonel (Rtd) Dato Seri Setia (Dr) Hj Mohammad Yasmin Hj Umar. DARe recently held a dialogue with local e-vendors in terms of helping them to set up a physical store and also issues with labour quotas and so on. With this guidance, it will hope to see how the e-vendors grow and create a more business friendly environment for a win-win situation.

Yang Berhormat Pehin Datu Singamanteri Colonel (Rtd) Dato Seri Setia (Dr) Hj Mohammad Yasmin Hj Umar, Minister of Energy and Industry, chairman of the board for Darussalam Enterprise (DARe) with other committee having a conversation with the e-vendors held at Design & Technology Building (opposite iCentre) last week. You can even visit their Business Support centre every Monday to Friday or call/sms via 836 3442. Image courtesy of @govbn

 

The winner of the Mitsubishi Lancer 1.6 Auto, Mah Wai Keun (left), as part of the “The Big Shopping Win”, a collaboration between Baiduri Bank and Hua Ho. Presenting the mock key were Michelle Lo (center), Manager of Card Brand Relationship & Business Banking Support and Lau Soon Lin, Director of Hua Ho. The event was held at Hua Ho Kiulap yesterday. You can website Baiduri website by clicking the image or you can download “Baiduri Deals” on your smartphone or follow their Facebook or IG @baiduribank. Image courtesy of Adib Noor of The Brunei Times.

Costume party at a friend’s place for Himari and Takumi’s farewell gathering. Both are my tennis buddies whom we trained under coach Aiman. It was also great to see Mr. Okochi after such a very long time. Thanks for the hospitality and great food.

My room mate for the past three nights at Taipei for our @mrbrownbrunei coverage trip with the winners of the Mr. Brown contest. We had this mini competition between us on making fun of each other on social media. It seems I’m dominating so far but we won’t have more opportunities until our next trip perhaps. Thank you, Aiking Sdn Bhd on giving us the opportunity to do coverage on the trip to Taiwan.

The Francophonie Week 2016 kicked off last Saturday and it will be ongoing for another week. Many events and activities to look forward too. This image was taken during the screening of the French movie “Win Win” at Taman Jubilee. The event is organised by Alliance Française and The Collective Arts Event. Click image to know more what’s in store for Francophonie Week 2016

The past week or so, I’ve been amazed with the stories that are being shared by my friends in their toastmasters journey. Many surprises in terms of content and I’m truly amazed by the growth of my friends. I’m still impressed with the ending of the “Helping Hand” story. Very impactful and witty. Congratulations to the winners of the UBD Toastmasters Club contest yesterday. Nice shot too, Sandy 😀

Last week, Inspire Magazine launched a new website to provide a better access to their stories. Back then, there were only magazines and PDF formats. This is a great step to reach more readers globally as well. Shaun Hoon (2nd from left), founder of Inspire Magazine, with his team during the launch of the website. You can visit www.yesinpire.com to access Inspire or click on the image. Image courtesy of Shaun Hoon.

 

Be Right Back, guys!! I will be flying with the winners of the Mr. Brown contest to Taipei. Follow updates on my Snapchat and on my instagram @ranoadidas and also @mrbrownbrunei

@kurapak also part of the entourage, waiting for us at Taiwan International Airport

The bus is still very cold inside and the weather is at the average of 14 degrees. Grrrrr…

Dinner at Tajin last night.. Awesome Moroccon food.

 

It was one of those days again when the Brunei Speakers’ Club organised a speech contest – International speech and table topics contest. It has been a long time ever since BSC had many participants, hitting the mark of 16 contestants for Table Topics and 8 for International Speech category.

It was indeed a fruitful evening. Thank you for those who attended and especially those who contested. I’m very honoured to witness my mentorees, participating in the contest and that to me is very rewarding.

The OTTERS Club contest have just completed but I wasn’t able to attend since I’m outstation. The next contest will from UBD toastmasters club, happening this Sunday at the UBD Inspiring Hall if I’m not mistaken. Good luck to all contestants. There are many favourites to look out for 😀

Another improvement from our member in BSC

I’m proud of my mentee, Heidi Rahman. You’ve showed so much growth and courage and the willingness to learn

 

Special promotion at At-Taqwa Travel & Tour

 

The BB Trail Challenge. It’s happening at the end of February, the first ever Trail Challenge Run organised by The Beach Bunch. There will be two categories – 21km and 42km. Registration has been closed and The Beach Bunch have been conducting practice runs from Tungku Beach to Berakas Forest Reserve Beach. This is to prep up the registrants before the actual Beach Bunch’s Trail Challenge. If you want to follow updates, you can check out their website beachbunch.net or follow them on IG @thebeachbunch #bbtc2016 #beachbunchbrunei and one more thing, Happy Birthday Rizan Latif, the man behind The Beach Bunch 😀

Last Sunday, 50 runners turned up for the practice session for the upcoming Beach Bunch’s Trial Challenge 2016. Image courtesy of @thebeachbunch

There will be free Yoga during the Beach Bunch’s Trial Challenge on 28th February

The 2nd manhunt. Here it is. The second manhunt, happening today at Universiti Brunei Darussalam. Justin Hong was the winner a few weeks’ ago where he won a pair of tickets to Taiwan to visit Mr. Brown’s Castle (factory) at Gadong. Today will be a special occasion as it is only opened for UBD students and the manhunt will be in the vicinity of UBD. Collection of bibs starts at 1pm and make sure you register yourself at mrbrownbrunei.com to be eligible. There will also be consolation prizes in a form of lucky draw. Good luck, UBD-ians. So who will be the next contestant to join Justin this March to Taiwan? Results to be revealed this afternoon.

The game area for this afternoon

5th time. Well deserved. He was snubbed twice in the past two years and it has always been between Leo Messi and Cristian Ronaldo. Both are such great talents but if I were to chose, it will be Messi for many reasons. He’s a clinical finisher, a monster of a dribbler, a great team player and humble off the field. He is even in a dream team with Neymar and Suarez as his attacking partners. The only trophy that has been eluding him is the World Cup trophy. 2018 will be his final chance. Let’s see if he has got what is left by then.

Congratulations Messi

LOL. I love this caption 😀

RIP Bowie. Such a tragedy that David Bowie has passed away due to cancer. A very talented individual and out-of-the-box artist when it comes to music and his attire. My favourite single of Bowie is Let’s Dance. Not many of my friends would have heard of David Bowie because he was popular back in the 70s and 80s. My first recollection of him was when I watch the movie Labyrinth when I was a kid. Now his latest album – Blackstar – has topped the iTunes Chart and I’ve heard some of his songs. It was stated that the album he made was experimental and this genre is not for everyone but its artistic value is very much appreciated. Rest in peace, Bowie.

My first viewing of David Bowie in a movie

Audi Q7. Something for Audi fans to look forward to – the awesome Q. Coming soon to Brunei will be the all new Audi Q7. I just read some news online and apparently the 2017 Audi Q7 3.0T is ranked the top in the Three-row Luxury Crossovers and SUVs and the market price is pretty reasonable and affordable too. I’m not sure when it will be making its way to Brunei but T.C.Y. Motors have already teased the fans with a brief look of the Audi Q7. Then again, I’m also not sure if it will be the 2017 Audi Q7 that will be released in Brunei. For now, I know it’s the newer version of the Q7. We shall wait and see.

Coming soon. The Audi Q7

Check out the A4lution – the versatile Audi A4 model range, starting from BND 49,000

Triple CL. After a year and a half, I have reached a milestone that I thought I couldn’t even be bothered to achieve. I was a member of Brunei Speakers’ Club back in 2011 but contribution was very minimal. Perhaps I didn’t see the value back then and plus I wasn’t even being present and focus. Today, I am very grateful and proud of how far I’ve been as a member of Brunei Speakers’ Club. I have just achieved my Competent Communicator and Competent Leader pins last night. Hence I will have the title of CC and CL as a toastmaster.

After delivering my 10th speech (inspirational objective based speech) last night, I was just mentally drained after hours of refining and practising my speech. Was I happy with my delivery? Well, it could have been better and I knew the moment I finished my speech, something was just amiss. Was I happy with my progress? 110% yes. I’m beginning to learn to advice on my friends on how to improve, the dos and the donts and don’t let my ego get in the way. A big shout out to my friends who came last night – Sophia, Abby, Hui Chiet, Ming Rui, Huaida and Faten. Not forgetting Gary (who hardly comes to BSC meetings) and members of OTTERS. Thank you to my mentors – Shawn, Allen, Reuben, Pranika, Clovis, Ling Ling and those have helped me along the way and my partner in crime, Ciara. Now I’m ready for the next level – Advanced speeches.

My previous mentor and my speech evaluator, Lai Ling Ling, who pinned me for completing my first 10 projects as a Competent Communicator

The toastmasters badge collection

Fancy a haircut. It’s the time of the year before Chinese New Year that you will want to beautify your hair. Do check out Inspiration Alan Salon at their relocated outlet at Seri Q-Lap Mall. One of the top stylist, Michelle, will be in Brunei on the 20th January to 26th January 2016. She has 18 years experience in hair dressing and she has been a regular visiting hair stylist in Brunei. With many accolades under her belt, you will be in for a treat and hopefully you will like the end result. So do make your bookings at Inspiration Alan Salon during Michelle’s visit next week.

Michelle, the experienced hair stylist, will be in Brunei from 20th to 26th January. Do visit Inspiration Alan Salon at Seri Q-Lap Mall for appointments and her service.

Relationship problems. I received this on the whatsapp group and it’s something for us to ponder upon. This could not just apply on lovers but also to close friends to certain extent, families and even colleagues. It’s never easy if you have someone close to you because there’s a level of expectation, be it small or big. Practising unconditional love or care has been my priority but I don’t expect the other party to do the same. It’s important for me to focus on my well being, otherwise I will spend more time pleasing others and draining my energy at the same time. I’m pretty sure many of us can relate to the items below. It’s how you rise from it is what matters.

re

 

I’m back.. That took a week!!! I’m still sorting out my computer at home. It’s difficult that my main computer the iMac 2013 is acting up. The damn “beachball” keeps appearing and it’s hard to do my work. I even reset the memory ram of my iMac.. 16 gig worth of ram to be exact and I even run a diagnosis with an MRI approach and it still didn’t work. So now most of my work is done on my Macbook Air but of course, I prefer my main desktop for convenient purposes. At this moment, I have no choice but to back up my iMac and sent it for repair.

On a brighter note, I’m back again and I would like to wish you Selamat Hari Raya Maaf Zahir Batin. I know this sounds silly but a few years ago, I put inserted the word “minta” before Maaf Zahir Batin. That doesn’t sound right at all and someone did point that out a few years ago when I posted that on my website. Thank you for that.

I won’t be blogging much again until I get my computer fixed. You can stalk my social media platforms instagram twitter Snapchat at @ranaodidas and I’m quite up to date with that because almost everything is mobile now. Sometimes I gained more traction on my IG than my blog in a very short span of time.

The highlight of my Hari Raya so far is my visit to the Istana Nurul Iman to greet His Majesty the Sultan of Brunei and members of the Royal Family. My family hasn’t been around for the past few Hari Raya so it has been a mellow one for me. Invites have been dry too and quite a handful of Bruneians travel abroad too. Let’s not discount that spending hasn’t been on the high side either which means lesser open houses or smaller scale. A big thanks to my good friend Aaron Goh who was more than willing to accompany me to the Palace for the Royal greet. It was a great experience and even Aaron said that the logistics was way better than his last visit (more than 15 years ago).

Aaron and I visited Istana Nurul Iman on the fourth day of Hari Raya. More stories on that soon.

It has been a slow paced Hari Raya celebration for me

Finally I get to shed off some fats by playing tennis and powering up with my favourite drink Mr. Brown

 

My friends call me the King of Powerbanks because I carry at least 3 with me at all times. As you know I’m addicted to my smartphone and so I would need tons of juice for my phone. Now it’s a great time to get yourself another set of power banks because as you know that these battery packs have a life cycle.

If you are hunting for one, I suggest you head off to Concepts Computer and try out their APC Power Packs. Now power banks have become more affordable as compared to previous years. Concepts Computer will be doing an APC promotion where with every purchase of the APC Power Pack, either the APC M5 5000mAH power pack ($38) or the APC M10 10,000mAH power pack ($58), are entitled to a free charger cable worth $12. This is just not any cable as it has a special adapter that can support Android and IOS smartphones.

It also has two USB ports on the 2.4A charging port ideal for tablets and the 1A charging port ideal for smartphones.

If you are worried about over charging or short circuit, not to worry since the APC ones are able to prevent that from happening. Cool, huh?

The APC M-series Power Pack comes with a free cable in-box but does not provide choice for connectibility, the add-on free USB cable (worth $8) provided by Concepts Computer with every purchase of the APC Power Pack, will offer a choice of either micro USB for most Android devices or iPhone’s proprietary connection for the latest iOS devices. For more information on APC and their full-range of power-based solutions, please visit your nearest Concepts Computer showroom or call 2233551/2/3.

APC Power Banks at Concepts Computer now comes with the dual adapter socket for Android and IOS smartphones

On another note, Concepts Computer achieved a new milestone for being awarded a Top Achiever by APC for 2014-2015. Hats off to Ryan Lieu, sales executive and person-in-charge of APC products in Concepts Computer. He was rewarded with a trip to Taiwan for an APC Partner Incentive Trip two weeks ago to celebrate Concepts Computer’s achievement.

Zul And Rahman, Marketing Executive of Concepts Computer with Ryan Liew, sales executive and person-in-charge of APC products

Ryan Liew flew to Taiwan recently to celebrate Concepts Computer success

Concepts Computer also have been active in sports activity such as basketball. They were recently involved in Sukan Ria last month and almost made it to the quarter finals. Now Concepts Computer will be holding a basketball competition for the veterans and seniors slated for this month. It will be called Concepts Veterans Cup 2015.

Kingston Beverage & Creamery Sdn Bhd will be their official sponsor for the Concepts Veterans Cup 2015. the Concepts Veterans Cup 2015 basketball tournament is a way to promote a healthier lifestyle among those aged 40 years old and above, and create awareness for the love of basketball among the public. The matches will be played at Batu Bersurat basketball court.

Kingston Beverage & Creamery the official sponsors for Concepts Veterans Cup 2015

The handing over of jerseys for Concepts Computer basketball team

Recently the man behind Concepts Computer celebrated his birthday at the outlet. In conjunction with his 60th birthday, he held a Sungkai outing for his staff, dealers and also members of the media. Too bad I wasn’t able to taste the catering from Seri Kandi but the food looked really tasty. Thank you again to Mr. Vincent Pao for all the support you have given this past year or so and I wish you happy belated and have a wonderful year ahead.

Happy Birthday Mr. Vincent Pao

Vincent Pao and Alice Chan with the members of the media

Vincent Pao and Alice Chan with the associates of Concepts Computer

Food ready to be served

 

I’m in love again with Mr. Brown 😀 Loving the fact they have offering more content. It was a bit weird holding a different size can of Mr. Brown but man, it does taste good. Now available at selected stores – Jaya Hypermart Gadong, Orbit (Jln Muara), Utama Grand, Hong Bee, Adri (Mata-Mata), Jaya (KB) and Aprina (Jerudong) and all Raimmar Mini Marts.

For those who want no sugar and no milk, this is the one. Now available in your local stores.