2019 Memories: Dr. Bootloop සහ Custom ROM

Time for a small memory recall rant.

Five whole years have passed since 2019. People say your twenties are meant for experimenting with new things—whether you succeed or mess it up completely.

Today, I felt like pulling out some of my oldest memories, reflecting on who I used to be, and comparing that guy to who I am right now.

The me back then was drastically different. I used to wake up at 9 AM, and the first thing I’d do was scour Telegram channels—not for NSFW stuff, but hunting down the latest Custom ROM or kernel updates. I’d finish my daytime chores, grab my phone at night, and start flashing Custom ROMs until 3 or 4 AM every single night.

During the early days of the Xiaomi Fans Group, we used to compete to flash custom ROMs, post in-depth reviews, and answer questions. My biggest pride back then was posting valuable content to become a Most Valuable Member.

Girls weren’t even anywhere on my radar. Instead, my brain was constantly obsessed with how to tweak, mod, and push new phones to their absolute limits.

Almost every guy I knew who bought a Xiaomi phone ended up coming to me for a custom ROM. My own primary phone—I called her Jadu, though her real device name was Santoni—was completely tortured. Sometimes I couldn’t even make a phone call because the OS was so heavily modified.

I’d get phone calls at 2 or 3 AM from friends panicked over bootlooped phones 😅. But fixing them and getting a dead device back to life gave me an indescribable high.

Eventually, the community gave me a nickname: Dr. Bootloop.
I don’t even know if anyone from that old squad is still around in my contact list today.

Honestly, 2019 was the best year of my twenties. It taught me that when I set my mind on something, I won’t stop until I crack it. There were countless times where a simple build tweak left my phone unbootable for months.

After a girl entered the frame later on, I shifted my focus toward learning new technical skills—Video Editing, Motion Graphics, and Android Development.

Five years later, I’m a completely transformed person.
The music I listen to, how I process life, the circle around me, how I treat people—even my core expectations—everything has evolved.

Where I’ll be in another five years is anyone’s guess (I could be six feet under). But I’m trying one thing: to leave behind good memories with the people whose lives I cross, and to collect memories for myself. New people will come, hang out, and move on. My goal is simply to build meaningful memories in between.

#CustomROMs #XiaomiCommunity #DrBootloop #Nostalgia