Juantastico on Beyond the Emerald City

I lived in a mid-sized city in the Midwest back in the early 2000s. I worked a basic job, paid less than $400 rent, and had plenty of time to spend with friends and music and drugs. You might think "ew, who want to live in the Midwest, you're so basic and stupid and gross.". Welp now I live (by accident) in a trendy mountain town in Colorado, where there is literally one (1) cafe to go to that is always packed out and feels like a Target on a Saturday, no affordable restaurants nearby, and rents are so high that my choices are to either work until exhaustion everyday, or be homeless. I had way more of a social life with more intelligent people in that supposedly crappy Midwest town than I'll ever have here.