Despite having been together for eight years, this relationship is still hard work and goes through phases. I'm recognizing a pattern here: during the week, when we hardly see each other, I often miss him and have positive feelings about him. During the weekends, when we're together in the small apartment, 24 hours a day, I get irritated and easily critical of him. This wasn't always the case; when my schedule was a bit lighter in previous months, my weekends with him were the highlight of my week. Lately, I've been more exhausted and impatient. We argued off and on today, and the unhappiness culminated tonight when he left the house to run errands and then lost his wallet, which included not just ID and bank cards but also money, which for him has been in short supply lately. I would say that financial matters are the most frequent cause of our arguments. I'm naturally good with money (in the stereotypical Asian way) and he has virtually no ability to hang onto money, (in the stereotypical Irish way). It seems more than just an inability, it almost seems like a curse. Anything bad that could happen financially to him, happens. I've had to bail him out countless times in the past and it looks like I will have to now again (on account of the lost wallet). I need to be more patient and generous.

In other news, I saw my old apartment building on the news last night. I lived in this particular apartment building when I first graduated from college and didn't know any better. It was relatively inexpensive, but was located in a college student area (a different town from where I went to college) and was rowdy, over-populated, and unpredictable. Beer bottles would be thrown into the front door window; I became accustomed to the broken glass. When Chris would visit, he'd park his car on the street, only to find smashed sideview mirrors or dusty footprints on the hood of his car the next morning. Well, it was only a matter of time before that building showed up on the news. Apparently there was a party there this weekend that got out of control. People were fighting and congregating on the roof, which had no guardrails or other protective features. A college kid fell off that roof and died on the scene. It was surreal to see my old windows, staircases, etc on the news, but not too surprising. I see so much gore and horror at my job that few things really shock me anymore.