aaah, former IRC addict myself. lol.
"i gotta go soon, class is in 10 minutes."
"oh man, i gotta go in a minute, class is starting in 5 minutes."
"i can be a few minutes late."
"damn, i'm 10 minutes late, what's the point?"
hehehehehehehe yea.

i don't think people CAN understand unless they've done it. and even those who have done it don't always understand.