I'm finally "it"!

I've modified my links in the sidebar to include blogs from friends I know: some new blogs, some old favorites, and one who is only a friend in my pretend world.

Well, it's a good thing I did-- because one of those friends tagged me for a meme last week, and I'm only just finding out because I'm only just checking my links. I haven't done a meme since Enbretheliel tagged me with the 5 Books Meme in 2005.

This meme is called Why I Blog- give five answers:

1. My friend Tommy went to Peru as a Holy Cross Volunteer. He started a blog called Eggletho in South America so that he wouldn't have to email the same stories over and over again to people back in the States. He said it was sooooo easy I could have a blog started in three minutes. I had been hearing about blogs in the news, and I was considering the idea. Then my friend Monique started a blog about her work as a Jesuit Volunteer in Portland OR for the same reasons that Tommy started his blog. (Unfortunately it no longer exists or else I'd link to it.)

2. So I started checking out Blogger to see if this was something I'd like to dive into, but I had other motives than starting a travelogue. As I was reading many of the sites on Blogger, I realized that there were a whole lot of blogs that consisted of people whining about their 'meaningless' lives. There were some very dark subjects, some very depressed people, and a total dearth of Christian references. My best friend and kindred spirit was the sole exception: her blog is about smiles and sunshine. But her blog wasn't about Christ; it was a journal, and she intended her blogging for a different purpose.

3. Then my friend in the seminary started reading Tommy's blog, and he too noticed the dearth of Christian content in the blogosphere. Tommy's blog had a template that I really liked, because its vellum appearance matched the background of my favorite place on the Internet. And it became remarkably clear to me what I had to do.

4. I started CatholicLand! as a place where I could revel in the Joy of Being Catholic. There was nothing else like it as far as I knew at the time. Then things started to happen and I found an entire world of Catholics who loved being Catholic as much as I did. Being Catholic is the best thing I know, and I will never tire of sharing Christ with a world in need. For much the same purpose, my friend in the seminary started a blog called Vivere Christus Est et Mori Lucrum, which translates as, "To live is Christ and to Die is Gain". He asked me to be a member, and I've been an erstwhile poster on his blog.

5. I continue to roam around in CatholicLand! because here I find useful information from other bloggers about all things Catholic, here I get my news from Rome without the subjective opinions and unwelcome bias of some diffident ignoramus interfering with what was actually said by the Pope, and here I can express my beliefs and share my passion with anyone that happens by. I dedicate my efforts to that inimitable and beloved Bishop Fulton Sheen, who apparently shares my taste for vellum.

So there you have it: Why I Blog. I tag Mark John, Megs, and Ames.