So here's a cool thing...

My friend and CrossFit instructor Becca wrote an article about me that's appearing in this month's CrossFit journal. You gotta pay for the subscription, so I can't link to it, but the description is here:

http://www.crossfit.com/journal/

and here:

"Becca Borawski, 'Jiu-Jitsu Journey: How Valerie Worthington Found CrossFit and Won the Gold Medal' – Becca Borawski chronicles the journey of grappler Valerie Worthington as she traveled across the country in search of jiu-jitsu training, stumbled across CrossFit in Los Angeles, and went on to win gold in her weight class at the 2007 Grappling World Championships in Turkey."

It's issue #63.

So that's kind of cool. Becca is a great writer and made me sound really intelligent. I wish I looked a little more, um, girly, in the pics, but what can you do? There are going to be two other articles based on the interview we did; they will include pics of some grappling techniques I show on Andy that use CrossFit principles. Cool, eh?

In other news, I'm working hard at online teaching. I have a pretty steep learning curve, and the semesters are only 8 weeks long, so there's always something coming at me. Yet another situation in which to feel inadequate. I feel like I'm getting better at it slowly, but I also feel like I have been catapulted back to grad school, where there was always something more to read, or write, or think about, and definitely always something to feel inadequate about.

So it was kind of a quiet weekend. I read, graded papers, stressed out about reading and grading papers, etc. Oh, and I slept 11 hours on Friday night. Holy crap. I am also officially an old lady: at the coffee shop I took a couple extra Splendas just in case. I forgot that I did it until I found them just now in my computer bag. I took 3 extras. I don't know what situation would constitute "just in case," but I'll let you know if I find out.

Oh, and speaking of being an old lady, I am also getting old lady knees. The skin on my knees is starting to get looser, like an elephant's knees. I noticed it recently when I was stretching my hamstrings. It doesn't really bother me. It's just the kind of thing that fills my brain these days.

So that might give you a hint that I'm sort of slumpy right now. In addition to contemplating my knees, I have also felt like I'm in a holding pattern ever since I got back from Turkey. I am thousands of miles away from where I started my odyssey, I am a year and a half older (and maybe 3 or 4 days wiser), and I am now completely free of the debilitating allergies I am convinced were caused by my old job. I have met hundreds of new, amazingly generous and friendly people, gotten significantly better at BJJ, written hundreds of pages for posterity, and put thousands of miles on my car.

But at the same time, sometimes my current life feels very similar to the one I left behind: I'm working at a job I don't quite love, and I'm living in a place where I don't quite feel at home. And I'm not feeling any sort of direction that would give me a sense of what to do about either of those things.

Well, sometimes the best thing to do is nothing. And since my courses ain't gonna teach themselves, and my jiu jitsu ain't gonna improve itself, I'll focus on them. And my parents are coming to visit on Friday, so that will be a very pleasant diversion.

So the rest of it will have to take care of itself in due time. In the meanwhile, I will just take care of myself and my immediate responsibilities. And make sure I always have enough Splenda. And maybe investigate a knee tuck.