on being unavailable...

occupied - like a bathroom stall or a fragment of enemy territory. the feeling something bad could happen at any second.
busy - like a tie you can't look directly at, or a signal you get whenever you desperately need to talk to someone. the urge to throw something.
engaged - like waiting to be married, or the starship enterprise in motion, or anything else requiring gratuitous special effects.
committed - like being married, or being sent to the mental institution, or anything else involving being actively crazy.
tied up - like being married... or being sent to the mental institution... wait...

on an unrelated note...
thanks to jordan for giving me something to think about. now if only i could think.
i'll try to return the favor some day.