I love that term "near life experience".
When I was 14 and a homeschooled pioneer, I was best friends with another girl of the same age, who came from what we called a "spiritually weak" family. Her mom had been disfellowshipped a time or two, and was already on her third worldly husband. My friend went to public school, and while she technically had the same JW restrictions as I did, her mom was much more lenient than my own parents, and I learned to take advantage of that.
One fall weekend, I got permission from my parents to spend the night at my friend's house. Then, we got permission from her mom to go bowling with her worldly friends at school. What we really did was walk to her school to attend the homeschooling football game AND the homecoming dance. It was nothing like I had envisioned in my head. It was a bunch of awkward teenagers running around drinking punch, dancing, and talking ... along with a bunch of awkward teachers. Me and my friend joined in and did the same. Then, we went home. And nothing bad happened. Nothing!
It was my first real "near life experience". I can't believe I survived it.