It's way past too late, and I think you're just having a midlife crisis.

And it certainly wasn't my idea.

nuh-uh, you are!

Give a clue as to situation you are talking about. Don't be shy. Say something that only the two of you would be able to understand and piece the situation.

Maybe the person you talk about is over it, matured and able to leave the bs behind and say hello.

They don't have to leave the bs behind. I was a jerk. Good for them for moving on. I'm not even necessarily trying to connect. Signs put out in space here for them or for me? I'm not sure, and what the sign says doesn't matter either. It just matters to me that it exists.

Why would they ignore and glare at you? It's not like you called the cops on them and have them issue a gag order on them.

a guy's confession

I am experiencing that exact situation with a male friend and former coworker. Right now we're not on speaking terms. I want to reconnect with him and clear the air because I miss our friendship. We had an awesome, deep, and understanding friendship, and I believe it was an misunderstanding.

Put up a literal well defined sign instead of looking for obscure ones. I would suggest making your social media profiles public, easy to find and identify. Make your profile pictures and profile status and posts to indicate, elude to, an innuendo, that you desire communication with that very specific someone, if you're really that too scared to hit them up on Twitter or Facebook directly yourself. Then just wait until you're no longer interested in making contact or until they contact you by some direct means. Keep in mind trust is probably a big issue here, so if and when they do decide to contact you, they may use a fake profile until they can determine your true motives and intent towards them.

Correction:
It's a male friend who was my former coworker.

Sorry for the error as it came across as two guys. :-(