schadenfreude: (MBP dictionary) pleasure derived by someone from another person's misfortune
幸災樂禍 / 幸灾乐祸 xìng zāi lè huò / “rejoice disaster happy disaster”: (MBP dictionary) to be gratified by others’ misfortune
People in my circles are increasingly reporting misplacing things, or not being able to remember what they might’ve done with them, e.g., house keys, Freedom Pass. (You can tell what age group these people are in, from the mention of Freedom Pass [free travel pass for retired people here].)
It’s not even a simple matter of devising a system of putting such things in a specific spot, so that one only has to go to that usual place for it, without even having to think about it.
I have my house keys and Freedom Pass held together on a cord, which I wear around my neck, and hang on the inside knob of the main door of my flat when I come home. As I have to go to and through the main door to leave the flat, that’s where I’ll be sure to find them.
One day, however, I got home with an urgent need to go to the loo, so I hung them on something en route to the loo, then forgot about it. The following day, I’d arranged to go and do a massage, but couldn’t find my keys and Freedom Pass in their usual position. Total blank in my head as to what I might’ve done with them. Big panic, more because I was worried about what’s happening to my brain, although it’s a big hassle as well to get the keys and travel pass replaced.
Sometimes, it’s being quite sure one’d put them down/back in the usual place, then failing to find them there. This is puzzling enough. What’s worse is having no idea at all (total blank in the memory bank) where one might’ve put the item(s) — as in the case of my house keys and Freedom Pass.
So, when my friends tell me they can’t find some item(s) and have no idea how it could’ve happened, my response is one of great relief: I’m glad I’m not the only one. (No consolation, I know…)
(London, 2024)
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