1.   The realization came as a shock and she pressed her clenched fist to her heart as if to pacify it.

2.   But her realization came too late to drop any courses.

3.   But that realization came too late.

4.   But the true realization came in the locker room, while I peeled off a sweat-soaked uniform and listened to two elderly men.

5.   But with submerged stock options, dot-com closings and widespread layoffs, comes the realization that the old issues of managing and motivating people never went away.

6.   Finally came the realization that this was all very, very insane.

7.   Realization comes three days into my visit when Amilka, dressed in a frilly pink frock, charges toward Carlito.

8.   That realization comes none too soon for the premiere of the Latin Grammy Awards, being televised Wednesday on CBS from the Staples Center.

9.   That somewhat oblique realization finally came to me when my neighbor, Shannon, started quizzing her mother about the Beatles.

10.   That realization did not come easily.