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Mankato is an ordinary small town where I had worked for a while. Its most prominent institution would have been a bar, had it not been for the State University. The picture on the left was altogether too common on campus, where drinking and smoking were much too prominent for my taste.

Freedom, however, means respecting others' choices, so long as they don't infringe on others. For that reason, I would much rather see people smoking tobacco, pot and opium, than have yet another lethally intrusive alpabet soup agency try to imprison the users "for their own good". Remember, pot users do not kill innocent bystanders nearly as often as DEA and ATF do.

The trick is to see beautiful within ordinary and to distil it into a sight worth witnessing. However, seeing beautiful within stagnant is a bit more challenging. The thin, solemn girl in black veil examplified the overall mood of Mankato: depressed. Numerous scars on her arms attested to it.

Reality, however, is made of two elements. One is the circumstances, the other is what you make of them. Some people I knew at the time, both in Mankato and in Minneapolis, made good use of their time and opportunities.

Recently, I've taken to asking people what is a greater problem for them, tedium or lack of time. I prefer the company of those who say "lack of time to do everything that I wish to do." In my opinion, sentient hard-working life-forms don't have a problem figuring out what to do with their time.

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One of the disappointing aspects of Mankato was its lack of decent restaurants. Although I can cook for myself, I like the option of dining out. Fortunately, my present homeland of Nashville, TN has several excellent venues. One of them is called Thai Taste.

Their food is varied, healthy and very tasty. Their service has been consistently excellent and cheery. And, as many others before us, Betty and I have developed a penchant for the Thai Tea they brew. In short, I think they deserve greater popularity.