@meganL @ascentale @bikenite I remember hearing about Burning Man via USENET way back in the '90s. At the time, I desperately wanted to go, but I knew that by the time a garden variety mildly eccentric nerd with artistic pretensions like me could just go without having to know The Right People, it wouldn't be what I hoped to experience, anymore.
About the same time, King Missile released a song with a line "I want to be just like all the Different People.", and ouch, did I ever feel seen when I heard that!