Oddly enough, only about five years after i got out of str8, I decided I was going to try to leave this country behind (hopefully for good, I thought at the time) and fly to Bali, Indonesia. About as far away from Baltimore, MD as you can get. Why there, of all places? The following sequence of events should explain: A few years prior to when I took off, I had been reading (upon recommendation of my roommate at the time) a book by Antonin Artaud called The Theatre and its Double in which there was a chapter about Balinese dancers, and how they somehow illustrated Artaud's idea of what theatre should be. So I became interested in that, and in the gamelan musical ensemble. Started listening to whatever recordings I found down at central library. So a year or two after that, I happened to be at a swap meet out in AZ where I met a guy who imported textiles from Bali. We got to talking and he told me how to go about getting over there. Not long after that I got a letter from him telling me what stuff I should bring, etc. So I bought a ticket with a good portion of my life savings and headed over there. It was round trip, but terminated in SF. But at the time I was not even sure I would ever come back here. I was hoping to get something going over there, teaching English or something. I didn't know what the hell I was doing really. Just knew I wanted away from HERE, for some reason. Anyway, I saw the kecak dance performed and flashes of the group motivating came to mind, even then. Weird. I do wonder if there's any connection with that, dragonfly...