that's about the time I started writing ActionScript and learning how to use (Macromedia) Flash to do some basic animations. I got as far as teaching myself the Flex Framework, almost had a paying customer for a Flex project, but it actually never went beyond the hobby phase. the Flash picture portfolio I wrote for myself is still out there and I love it. it's ActionScript 8.0 but I never had any compatibility issues with any browser or Flash version. I looks the same everywhere. and I bet the compiled swf file, which is still online, dates back to 2003 or something. nowadays thefwa.com has been rebranded to "the Favourite Website Award" - it used to stand for "the Flash Website Award". that's where I discovered group94.com a Belgium-based advertising agency who were writing some crazy ActionScript back then. nowadays their website has gone HTML. it looks boring. and basic. it looks just like all the other agency portfolio websites out there. it used to be funny and clever and poetic. it used to be well... flashy. take a look at the Flash scene 10 years ago and take a look at how web interaction has evolved: nowadays you want something cool, you get it parallaxed... millions of websites all taking on the same design element. the Flash websites I saw were all different in many ways. the Flash world was a place of inspiration.
I don't really remember when I stopped reading thefwa.com (which I used to do on a daily basis). I didn't really notice when Flash got replaced almost everywhere by HTML(5). I just did now. and I feel sorry for it, because Flash used to be (and still is) a great tool and a great concept.
EDIT: I'm not talking here about the mediocre Flash world. there's plenty of bad Flash websites out there. I'm talking about the glamorous one. and in my opinion the glamorous Flash world from 5-10 years ago is still more artsy than the glamorous HTML5 world nowadays.