...Is the sound of celophane being torn off a new music CD.

...Is a lower lip quivering just before it's kissed for the very first time.

...Is that half second that it takes the fuse on a firecracker to light, before the tenth second it takes you to throw it.

...Is the thanksgiving grace that seemed to go on and on just to keep you peeking at that deviled egg in your plate with one eye while your mouth watered..

...Is watching the hands on the clock in the last class of the last day of school.

...Is the squeak of leather as you ease into the saddle for a ride on a horse that you've never met.

....Is the dull click of the carriage return as you wait for a machine to compile and validate 150 pages of code and two and a half months of your life. (Yes I'm old-school. Carriage return = "Enter")

...Is that few seconds you wait for an answer after asking someone to dance.

...Is that few nervous moments you wait for that churning noise to start inside the ATM machine that signals to you that, no, you aren't overdrawn, at least not yet.

...Is the feel of a new key sliding across the tumblers in the ignition of a just completely restored classic musclecar.

...Is the clank, clank,clank of the roller coaster as it climbs slowly to the highest point of the ride only to drop you on the other side causing audible gasps and screams, scaring the butterflies that were in your stomach right out of your butt.

...Is the torture of not being able to locate a knife within arms reach to cut open the box of doughnuts you've managed to get home with without pulling over on the shoulder to eat.

...Is the sound of a thin stream of coffee slowly, ever so slowly dripping through the stupid machine while you stand there in your underwear, cup in hand, and actually trying to coax the pot into working faster, until all patience is lost and you yank out the pot and put your cup under the stream instead.

...Is that excruciating few moments spent on the lift going for your first time skiing. All the way down you think of new ways to kill your best freind for having this fantastic idea. The idiot!

...Is realizing that after sitting on the carpet for two hours playing Barbies with your daughters, you can't feel your legs. At all. Then after finally standing up, doing the Frankenstien walk as fast as you possibly can to the sofa before the two bajillion nerve endings wake up.

...Is trying not to make eye contact with the last few passengers on the flight as they walk down the aisle while sitting next to one of the only empty seats on the plane.

...Is that nervous few miles that you try and drive perfect, while the state trooper is in your rearview mirror, all the while praying that your license plate, inspection and registration is up to date. You realize you haven't been breathing at all when the cop finally passes you and you hear ypurself exhale

....Is the time it takes for the letter carrier to walk up the sidewalk so that you can find out if you've finally received that letter from that special someone you've been waiting on now for over three weeks.

...Is waiting on an expression from the face of the person who has put the first bite of food into their mouth from five hours of your labour in the kitchen.

...Is waiting on a .jpg to load of someone you've met online but never seen in person.

...Is that few seconds of silence after the song on your favorite CD that you know your favorite song is about to start.

...Is the time it takes you to close the refridgerator door and run back to your room after hearing that familiar Yahoo! Instant Messenger "Knock-knock"..

...Is waiting for the monotoned polotician to finish rambling at your graduation while all you can think about is the terrible itch you've developed in your nether regions.

...Is being in the situation that requires the use of a public toilet, then deciding that, yes, I need to go bad enough to use the stall with the broken lock, then after coughing loudly to claim your territory, you stare at the broken lock, almost begging it not to move. Eventually you lift a leg, propping yourself up inside the stall with foot against the door. Its only after the "danger" leaves that you relax and finish, only to realize that you've touched those goddawful nasty walls! Ugh!

...Is standing at the counter of the one hour photo booth with your GF/BF/SO waiting to open the envelope of new photos from "that half roll we found in the camera" and realizing they are of your previous GF/BF/SO...or worse!

...Is that half second were just before you jump (bunjee, para, whatever) yoiu feel your body actually pulling back as you pass the threshold of no return and commitment.

...Is letting go of the microphone or key paddle and listening intently to the static for a voice from a far away land to answer you. Radio is, in a way, not unlike a note in a bottle. You toss it out there into the void, and wait for someone, anyone, to happen across it.

...Is the adrenalin flowing through you like molten lava while you wait on the multicoloured lights of the "christmas tree" to change colours, signaling the driver to pop the clutch. Machine and man become one. Steel and bone, blood and fuel mix as gears shift and heart pumps. Tires spin nearly as rapidly as eyes dart downtrack as driver and machine do what they were created for. The quinessential symbiotic relationship. One cannot exist without the other.

If none of this made sense, have no fear, for it was merely an excercize in writing.

good night diaryland!