So the heat index broke 100 degrees today. Humidity was at an astonishing 408 percent, and I was in the direct sun pointing a flagstone patio that our crew has been building for the past month. Pointing flagstone may look like it would be an easy job, that is until you've seen a man on his hands and knees scrubbing mostly-set mortar with scraps of burlap for hours on end. All of this added up to me sweating out about half a gallon of water over the course of 7 hours and losing the last 0.05 percent body fat that i was holding reserve somewhere in my right forearm. Now you might be thinking, this sounds like hell.

I suppose the life of a modern day peasant would be just that to most people, but for some reason this sorta shit puts me in a good mood most of the time. Over the past 2 months I've had less than 10 days that I didn't work (including weekends). Somehow I still have enough energy after work to live a normal life at this point, and I'm truly enjoying the trade which I've devoted the past year of my life to learning. I'm also working with some goddamn interesting characters. Mauro has been teaching me Italian for the past week, and I hope that by the end of the year I can understand what he and Ugo are saying behind all of our backs. Bob the 65 year old truck driver loves hairy pussy. Maybe it's the fact that I'm getting paid more because I'm actually doing skilled labor at this point, or maybe the sun fried some circuits in my brain... but I find that this sorta shit is what life is all about.

I don't plan on being a mason for the rest of my life, don't get me wrong. It's one of the most physically brutal jobs I could ever immagine, and I can already start to feel it wearing down on me. I'd love to stick with it for another year or so, just to say I've done it, and because I'm at a point in my life that I can do this sort of random, senseless and beautiful shit. Someday I'll get back to my real passion and become career oriented again. For now though, I'm happy with what I'm doing.

I guess the point I'm trying to get across here is:

Sometimes if you lift your head up, wipe the sweat out of your eyes and look at things the right way, there's beauty to find in the average person's hell.