Mike was a straight-laced, up-tight programmer working at the same place where he had worked for years, and not doing much with his life other than going to raves. He did lots of drugs, especially Ecstasy and Acid, but I could hardly tell the difference when he was on them. At one point, though, I introduced him to some people who put on self-development workshops or "growth groups", and his life totally changed. Soon he was telling me about the ins and outs of these groups, such as the Forum [the successor to the infamous 70's group Est] and a group called the Welcomed Consensus, whose stated purpose was to teach men how to better give women pleasure, such as extended orgasms. He attended massage school, began organizing parties and ended up a leader of the subculture of young people who attended these groups and involved themselves in massage, New Age rituals, and similar quintessentially Bay Area things.