Going through the motions

My entry the other day led me to thinking about something that's been bothering me, and that's when followers of a certain religion try to force non-followers to play by their rules. For instance, cranky old religious radio host Harold Camping said something about how he thought the country was less Christian now than it was earlier in his life, and one of the examples he gave was how businesses used to close on Sundays. I could be wrong, but weren't they forced to do so at one point? That doesn't mean the business owners were good Christians (not that all Christians believe that you shouldn't work on Sunday anyway, but that's another matter entirely). The thing I have to wonder is what good they think it will do for people to follow the rules without actually believing. Some Christian denominations believe in salvation through faith alone, and others through faith combined with good works. But how many religious denominations are there where you can achieve salvation simply by following rules without knowing why, or having any belief in the actual tenets of the religion itself? A more significant issue involving this is the whole "sanctity of marriage" thing. Because certain members of some Christian denominations believe that homosexuality and polygamy are sinful, they think the government should outlaw these things even for people who DON'T believe that! Part of the beauty of separation of church and state is that, if your church isn't cool with gay marriage, it doesn't have to perform or recognize such marriages. But why should this carry over to people with different belief systems? Many denominations seem to think that anyone who doesn't believe the basic things that they believe is hellbound anyway. So what difference does it make whether that person chooses to marry someone of the same gender or work on Sundays while on Earth? Should they really be punished in life AND in the afterlife?

In more mundane matters, it turns out that my rental car has a CD player. That and the power locks will probably be the only things I'll miss when I get my own car back. While driving yesterday, I was listening to Camper Van Beethoven's New Roman Times, and digging "Might Makes Right" and the title track. I must say that I'm still not a big fan of "White Fluffy Clouds" or "Discotheque CVB," though. I think they both go on a little too long. The former is pretty good in the part that actually has lyrics, though.

On Tuesday's episode of American Idol, not only did we get the guy singing XTC, but also Paula Abdul telling someone with a silly voice that they should do cartoon voice work, giving Rugrats as an example. Simon Cowell then said something like, "So you're telling him to be a rat." I'm not even sure I can count how many things are wrong with that, but I can try:

1. Having a goofy voice doesn't mean you're cut out to be a voice actor.
2. Telling someone they sound like a cartoon character is pretty insulting anyway, and Paula is supposed to be the NICE one.
3. I'm pretty sure Rugrats is no longer on the air. Even on the off chance that it is, I'm sure they're not holding open auditions for new voice actors.
4. There aren't any rats on Rugrats (although, as bethje pointed out, Simon is actually pretty lucky not to be familiar with the show).

We also got Simon going on and on about how some girl sounded like a yowling cat, and making fun of someone's weight (not to her face, but in front of the camera). I'm usually fine with his criticisms, most of which are honest and deserved, but it annoys me when he concentrates on appearance. It's usually just with girls, but I also remember him telling Josh Gracin he should lose weight. I don't like Josh, but the guy was obviously in shape. I mean, he was a Marine! Simon has some serious issues in that respect. True, it's just a stupid TV show, but that kind of thing bothers me in general anyway.

Last night, Beth and I went to Friday's, where I got the three-course dinner. They're apparently REALLY strict with that special, not letting anyone get any dessert other than cheesecake. Fortunately, I like cheesecake, although I haven't actually eaten it yet. I was very full, so I asked for it in a box. As an appetizer, I got the fried mozzarella, which is subpar there. I mean, it tastes pretty good (it's kind of hard to mess up something that simple, after all), but it's better in pretty much any other restaurant that offers such a thing. I'm not sure whether the fact that Friday's gives you big rectangles instead of sticks is part of it. Probably not, but that's also kind of weird.

Today, I played Paper Mario for the first time in a while. I had reached Dry Dry Desert, which was pretty confusing, and I ended up consulting a walkthrough. The problem is, once I start using a walkthrough, I end up wanting to consult it for every minor difficulty I have in the game. Oh, well. The important thing is that I managed to defeat Tutankoopa, the boss of Dry Dry Ruins. I'm not sure when I'll get the chance to play the game again, but I'm hoping Forever Forest will be easier to navigate than the desert was.

This was kind of a long entry, wasn't it? I actually kind of like writing entries that deal with a lot of different topics, because there's more likely to be something that interests the readers than if I just stick to one thing. I have to wonder if it sometimes backfires, though, and people think, "This is too long! I'm not reading this!"