I have been wondering what purpose our X marks friends serve. I'm talking about the men and women we have listed on our profile pages as our buddies. Don't get me wrong--I'm thrilled to have some; it allows me to disprove my mom who, to this day, insists that nobody will ever be friends with a miserable, misanthropic little twit like me. Take that you old wench.

Unlike the other friends in our lives who (I'm told) help us do things like move furniture and bury bodies, it seems our X friends just have to sit there, helplessly, while we make inappropriate comments and wear white hose with flatcaps. Is there an actual function within the forum that uses the "friend" status (thread notifications, birthdays, that kind of thing) or is it just a way to publicly show our bonhomie? If it's the latter, I suggest we come up with some ideas to make us more useful to each other. Any ideas? Be as impractical as you wish! For instance:

I was thinking of pitching a reality show to Fox Broadcasting--kind of a hybrid between The Bachelorette and Survivor made up entirely of X marks members. We would use our friends lists as the basis for the alliances, and the fact that many people have mutual friends with potential enemies (you know who you are!) some serious backstabbing would ensue!

The working title is Tart and Tartan.

Now that's some TV.