so here's what we knew at this point
1. both side and front left marker lights need a ground to function
2. the front market light has a black ground wire the side marker light does not
so how do we send a ground signal from the front market light with the ground wire to the side marker light?
answer: via the stinkin' light bulb
somehow in some way the light bulb takes the ground signal from the front marker light and shares it with the side marker light via the light blue wire (I honestly still don't understand this magic, but I accept it)
I also do not comprehend why a good working light bulb was insufficient to send the ground signal, but a different one of the same model number was
I even cleaned it thinking it was dirty contacts and no dice, when I moved the bulb from the working side to the non working side it would work, when I went the other way it would not, luckily I found another working bulb in my stash
pic of a bulb that would not work though it matched the working bulb exactly, this is the one I cleaned the contacts on after taking the pic