2000 - I retired the Ami-chan computer, building and launching the fourth-generation Raider3 Organization all-round workstation, code-named Julie Anne, which was launched shortly before FanimeCon 2000, which expanded to a 3 day event, in one location - the Westin Hotel/Santa Clara Convention Center. The event was more or less a success, despite major snafus involving negotiating late night events with convention center/hotel staff, the seating debacle for masquerade (“Der Cosplay” from this year on), and the demise of my 35mm camera. Der Cosplay 2K became the signature event of Fanime Con, thanks to the efforts of Fanime Con upper-rank staff, and Rob Miles of the B.A.A.S. (Whassssssap!)

It was also the beginning of a rather annoying ritual from the audience, more or less initiated by Michael Wright, then-chairman of Anime Resource Group/Fanime Con - The “Rock!” chanting story, which came about because a prop one cosplayer left on stage, becomes the “Chair!” event, which has persisted to this day, and is not going quietly. If you're thinking of carrying it on, or reviving it, I have some advice for you - Please don't, ok? ^_^;

Year Three of Anime Central commenced, in a new location, at the Sheraton Chicago Northwest, in Arlington Heights. I gained more experience (and more stress ^_^;) as a ConOps staffer, and managed to have occasional fun during the madness of con work. ^_^; (Shouts going out to Akane, OldCrow, ottermama, DeweyNeko, Agi-chan, Shinji, and so on...)

On the local scene, a new anime club was launched in Modesto, CA, following my return from ACen - Raging Otaku Society makes its debut in late May of 2000, and continues somewhat to this day. Megumi from work is the Vice President, her sisters, brother, and (ex-)husband became involved, and the first ROS club trips (mostly unofficial) began later in the year. I talked myself into the position of club webmaster, resposnble for site design and content, thus expanding the portfolio of Studio Calico Web Design.

I also returned to Anime Sacramento after nearly 13 years, with occasional trips up north.

Fanime Con 2001 had a strong ROS presence, with key members from the local club attending. I stayed off-site at my sisters' in-laws' place, in order to keep costs down for remainder of year for upcoming trips, both anime and non-anime related. More or less, things went a bit better, except for one strange incident involving our club co-president and a giant beach ball that was supposed to represent one of the Angels from Evangelion... Smooth move, Serin... (And now, he is responsible for the style and imaging of FanimeCon - Small world...) ^_^;

2001 - Anime Central had one of its best years ever, in terms of attendance, and events. My profiency as part of ConOps staff continued to improve, in comparison to previous years. Only bad thing - Major remodeling going on at the hotel during entire convention. That year marked the final year at the Sheraton. As The Great Skeeve put it, “... We were Ramadaed...” After things were wrapped for the con, I went along with other ACen staffers to get a preview of the Hyatt Regency O'Hare for 2002. Sweetness... ^_^;

Some rockiness at ROS occured, with some member drop-out and the ever-present quest to locate more programming for weekly meetings. The orignal ROS site at eavansei.com ceased to exist, with the demise of eavansei.com's server hosting, and the club site moved to my site on anime.net, in August 2001. However, the meeting of August 19th was one of our more successful meetings to date. ROS marked its one year anniversary with a Dance Dance Revolution gaming event, pizza, and fun for all, and I ended up with sore feet from DDRing. ^_^;

Things on the online side continued to a lesser degree as I scaled my IRC presence, in light of a perception that I had worn out my welcome with a certain few on #anime! EFnet. (Drama... Save it for the anime.) Of course, there was also other stuff to take care of offline, such as returning to a growing RPG backlog on the PlayStation, as well as Phantasy Star Online on Dreamcast. (Thanks goes to Fntc for my semi-return to IRC, and thanks to those who either don't take me too seriously, tolerate me, or are glad to have me around. ^_^;)

This marked the 16th year of otakunization for me. (On to page 5!)

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