Lava and Obsidian

My friend has been through a lot. He's fallen down cliffs, been killed by lava and attacked by wild wolves. Let me explain about the "been killed by lava" bit:

My friend was walking... somewhere. Where? I have no idea. He wasn't trying to find a mine. He wasn't trying to find anything. He was- exploring. Then he found the surface lava. Now, what would a normal person do? Pour water on it and harvest the obsidian. What did he do? Dig a long and complicated tunnel. Then lose some lava by turning it into cobblestone. He finally got it right. Then got it wrong, and burnt, and died. He must be very lucky, because only his pickaxe had been incinerated.

That's all for today!