Okay, so every morning as I inhale my coffee and wait for it to shake me out of my eye-crusties-bed-head-I-hate-my-life morning state (if I could inject the caffeine right into my veins I totally would), I surf the Internet, check some emails, you know the deal.

But this morning, the coffee was totally unnecessary as I was jolted out of my sleepwalk by this ridiculous picture. WTF did this woman in Indonesia eat to birth a freaking toddler! Yes, that’s a 19 pound baby. That was resting inside some woman’s stomach.

(Editor’s Note: This just in: that behemoth isn’t even the biggest baby of all time. He lost…by 4 pounds.)

Birth control, I love you.

Indonesia rocked by an earthquake. No tsunami threat anymore.

What are the worst chick flicks ever?

Salma Hayek breastfed a hungry child; so what? Ok…maybe it’s a little weird.

MAC premiers their Hello Kitty collection.

Is that Dakota Fanning!?

Attention: YouTube is not a real source for paper writing.

Is K-Fed charging Britney to hang with the kids?

This koala makes our hearts melt!

At home cardio moves. No gym necessary.

Before I leave the house and head to the airport, I say goodbye to my one true companion: my seven-year-old pug Iris. I give her a big kiss on the cheek and squeeze her until she makes a huffy sound. “I love you, Iris,” I say to her. “You be a good girl.” Then, I give her a treat and, while she chews it, I walk out of sight. I will not be seeing her for a few months, but the reality doesn’t set in until I’m on the plane.

My friends tell me she whines the first few days, wondering where I am, and then she settles into life without me. My substitute for Iris is a plush gray neck pillow that I have brought with me on all my travels for the past five years. I sleep with my substitute and it provides me enough comfort to sustain me for the length of my trip.

Though there can be no real substitute for Iris, as a traveler, I am required to leave her behind — along with many other things. Despite missing these things, there is a profound cleansing that every traveler experiences. The value of an item is measured by its weight, size, and usefulness. The sorting between what will be brought or not quickly informs you of just how little a human really needs to survive life abroad.

I recently traveled to Singapore, Indonesia, Australia, Vanuatu, and Fiji for six weeks carrying just a small backpack that still contained unused, unnecessary things. There is one truth behind every item brought and left behind: these ‘things’ — both figurative and physical — represent the sacrifice you make to explore uncharted territory. Ultimately, that sacrifice is a small price to pay for the powerful discoveries you make along the way.

Ironically, this torch relay was supposed to be the largest in Olympic history—a showcase of international cooperation and sport. Instead, it has become a testament to international outrage over China’s human rights abuses, especially over Tibet.

March 31: A huge carefully scripted ceremony at Beijing’s Tiananmen Square sent the torch off across the globe

April 3: In Istanbul, Turkey, the Uighur expat community staged demonstrations against Chinese persecution of their “brother” expats in Xinjiang. In February 2007, for example, an Uigur activist named Ismail Semed, was executed on the shaky grounds of attempting to “split the motherland” and possessing explosives.

April 6: Massive clashes occurred between Free Tibet protesters and police during the London relay. Thirty-seven protesters were arrested including a man who tried to snatch the torch away from one of the runners. Another tried to put out the torch with a fire extinguisher.

April 7: In Paris, massive protests forced organizers to cancel the final third of the relay—transporting the flame by bus to the end point. Activists succeeded in hanging Tibetan flags and black banners from the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame.

April 9: In San Francisco, thousands of protesters—both Chinese Americans supporting the games and human rights activists–surrounded the torch. Fearing violence, officials cut the planned route in half and changed it—meaning that at several points runners were waiving to near-empty streets.

The Buenos Aires, Argentina relay on April 11th and in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania on April 13th were comparatively peaceful and well managed.

April 16: In Islamabad, Pakistan, the relay was moved from the streets to a local stadium open solely to officials and invited guests.

April 18: In India, officials sealed off the huge city of New Delhi hours before the relay and arrested 276 protesters in an effort to protect the event. Heavy security surrounded the runners turning the traditionally celebratory event into a fairly dismal occasion.

April 19: The relay route was comparatively quite in Bangkok, Thailand thanks to the official warning that Tibetan exiles who disrupted the proceedings would be deported.

On Monday, April 21, the torch will travel through Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and then Jakarta, Indonesia on April 22. The torch will then travel through Canberra, Australia on April 24th where anxious officials have been mapping out security precautions since the first signs of unrest in Europe. They have erected steel fences along the 12.4-mile relay route.

On May 4th the Everest part of the relay will commence with the relay going up the Nepal side and down the north face into Tibet. Nepalese soldiers have been given permission to use any force necessary—including firing shots– to prevent protesters from stopping the relay.

Stay tuned for further updates.