It was at this this point that I resolved never to drop out of fandom again, making at least one convention outing a year from this point forward, and to get more involved in fandom.

1995 year also marked the 10th year of otakunization, as well as my first appearance on the “real” internet (As opposed to being on AOL, Prodigy Classic (RIP), GEnie, CompuServe, etc.) The Raider3 home page, initially started on Prodigy in early 1995, also makes an appearance. I joined IRC channel #anime! on EFnet, and used the Raider3 name after a few early entries... (So that means I get to put the soul-hurt on any impostors, and I don't give a crap if there's no nickserv anymore... Face it, non-believers... I am Raider3, now and forever, cower before my might.. ^_^;)

Having got ahold of a flyer for another Bay Area anime club, I started sporadically attending meetings of Foothill Anime from July 1995 onward. The above events, coinciding with my sister's graduating from CSU Fresno, her marriage, and moving to San Jose, established that city as my second home, as the second decade of Raider3 anime fandom kicks off...

1996 - I made plans to attend Anime Expo '96, having started planning in mid-January of that year. This marked the first full weekend attendance of an anime convention, as it was an organized “family&rdduo; effort, involving my sister and brother-in-law (who had ulterior motives - there was also a sports con con going on in the same location) Prior to AX '96, I put in an appearance at Fanime Con '96, back when it was a one-day event at Foothill College.

Anime Expo '96 set several firsts for me - The first instance of a huge expenditure of funds on anime-related items, setting the precedent for spending budgets for future conventions, the first get-together with folks from #anime! EFnet, resulting in the only time, to my knowledge, that I got really drunk. (but not as crazy as some individuals, including one lionboogy, who got pretty crazy without the need for grain-derived beverages...) I also learned of plans for organizing the first midwest anime convention, Anime Central, set to kick off in 1998.

(I obtained a certain bootleg item, which remains a part of my collection in my room to this very day. No, I'm not going to tell you what it is. If you weren't there, you missed out. Ha-ha. ^_^;)

The Raider3 home page moveed to anime.net, where it resides as a pre-2003 snapshot of the current website. (Thanks once again to Goemon for letting me set up shop there. ^_^;) The addition of a second ISP for the Raider3 Organization provides the new direction for the end-of-year remake of the page, now known as the vision of raider3. I attended the end of semester marathon at Cal-Animage Alpha in Berkeley, CA, in November of 1996.

1996 was also a year of some setbacks for me, involving events involved in fandom that spilled over into my personal and professional life, ultimately culminating in my dismissal from my USPS job, and the beginning of a brief depression prior to and after. (On to page 3!)

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