Go here: Tampontification
Why?
"You probably never thought of this, but women's shelters in the U.S. go through thousands of tampons and pads monthly. Assistance agencies generally help with expenses of "everyday" necessities such as toilet paper, diapers, and clothing, but one of the most BASIC needs is overlooked - feminine hygiene products. Seventh Generation, a green paper products and cleaning products company, has a do-good attitude and will donate a box of sanitary products to a women's shelter in your chosen state - just for clicking the link. Talk about easy (literally takes less than 1minute and they ask nothing of you)."
X as Friend of the Family
I've decided to try a new tactic. Since my family can't seem to make my X as X as I have, I've decided that I will now consider him not my X, but a friend of the family. That way, when I see him pop up on my siblings MySpace comments (or, god forbid, their Top 8), or at a family function (like my brother's wedding), or wherever he has insinuated himself into my family, I won't think negative thoughts like wanting to beat my siblings and such.
I'm making this about my happiness and cleansing my psyche. I could keep being wicked annoyed (It's OK, I can say "wicked", I'm from Massachusetts) and think, "Why the hell won't my family let him go?" or I can just think "Oh, there's that guy that is a friend of the family." and have no feelings about it either way. Since I don't really have feelings about the man anyway - except when it comes to the fact that my family won't get rid of him - I think this is a good idea. If you can't beat them (no matter how much you want to), join them.
Push/Pull
If I ruled the world, all push/pull door paraphenalia would be uniform so that no matter what door you went to, you'd know before hand whether you had to push it or pull it to open it. This would save us all from lots of embarassment and potential pain as we walk into a pull door we assumed was push.
Comments
As for X, I say sibling-beating's the way to go. They can like him if they want, but they have to support you and respect your desire to not be in the same room as a guy who ignored you for years.
As for the X - there's only so much a person can do to control other people. And even less if you want to maintain a good relationship. It's tough because my X was like an older brother to my brother who was only ten when X came into the picture. And, being a dancer, he didn't have a lot of male role models. As for my sister, she was only 15. My X wasn't good for me, but I have to admit, he wasn't bad for them.
As time passes and he moves further away (hurry up June!) the connection will fade. In the meantime, (and in case it doesn't)I have to figure out how I want to relate to everyone. We all only have control over ourselves and how we react. If I switch my mindset from X to family friend, I can let go of the negative feelings. I will, however, continue to point out to my family times when they may need to rethink their actions.
The most important thing to me now is making sure Friendster Guy takes his rightful place. That's made harder by his odd schedule but it's been over a year so it's time. It's dangerous though because, as is now apparent, once you're in, you're in for good. It's like the freakin' mafia.
I do kinda wish they'd pull a Fredo on my X though.