Saturday, April 01, 2006 -- 8:54 AM

I have but one more week of classes before finals start. In one month I'll be back outdoors with a hammer swinging from my toolbelt and a smile swinging from my face. You don't really realize how much you miss working with your hands until you're back doing it, and all the little things come back to you.

I helped my uncle frame in his basement fireplace last week, and I really enjoyed myself. There's a large amount of pride that goes along with completing even such a small job, and it almost makes you feel like you know what Marx was talking about with his denouncement of capitalism as a mechanism that separates the labour from the labourer. Though I'd never admit it, there seems like strong connection or bond with the finished product. So much so, in fact, that when my aunt came down and suggested moving a wall to put in cupboards where none existed in my plans, I was a little bit hurt. I made it, of course it's perfect, fool! Then again, the thought of improving on it was also alluring. You couldn't put in a door at the bottom, I pointed out, because of the bottom plate. That couldn't be changed, it was part of the original plan, I did it and it's perfect ha! However, if you wished to make a seperate addition that in no way involved altering the perfect work that I have already done, yeah, that might be possible, let's talk about it.

I really like the imagery of a smile swinging from a face. Can you imagine that?