1.   But optimism has its dark side.

2.   But that optimism has still to be tested.

3.   If optimism has a sound, Mike Keane flinging one-liners around a bustling Dallas Stars locker room has to be close.

4.   So, as Khatami enters his second term, optimism has to be severely diluted.

5.   But the Bank of Japan also cautioned in its monthly report that corporate optimism has yet to prove a boon to the overall economy.

6.   In Japan, where that optimism would have had greater impact, markets were closed Tuesday for a national holiday.

7.   That optimism has long since evaporated, replaced by frustration and mounting rage at Israel, its perceived patrons in the United States and sometimes the Palestinian Authority itself.

8.   Any optimism Iraqis may have felt after the oil-for-food deal took effect last month has since dissipated, a Western diplomat said.