The ‘99 Things’ idea is to look at this list of 99 things you could have done, and bold the ones that you actually have done!

Here we go…

1.) Started your own blog
2.) Slept under the stars
3.) Played in a band
4.) Visited Hawaii
5.) Watched a meteor shower
6.) Given more than you can afford to charity
7.) Been to Disney World
8.) Climbed a mountain
9.) Held a praying mantis
10.) Sang a solo
11.) Bungee jumped
12.) Visited Paris
13.) Watched a lightning storm
14.) Taught yourself an art from scratch
15.) Adopted a child
16.) Had food poisoning
17.) Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18.) Grown your own veggies
19.) Seen the Mona Lisa at the Louvre
20.) Slept on an overnight train
21.) Had a pillow fight
22.) Hitch hiked
23.) Taken a sick day when you’re not sick
24.) Made a snow fort
25.) Held a lamb
26.) Ran a marathon
27.) Went skinny dipping
28.) Rode in a gondola in Venice
29.) Witnessed a total eclipse
30.) Seen a sunrise or sunset
31.) Hit a home run
32.) Been on a cruise
33.) Seen Niagara Falls in person
34.) Visited the birthplace/home of your ancestors
35.) Seen an Amish country
36.) Taught yourself a new language
37.) Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38.) Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39.) Gone rock climbing
40.) Seen Michelangelo’s David in person
41.) Sung karaoke
42.) Seen Old Faithful erupt
43.) Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44.) Visited Africa
45.) Walked on a beach by moonlight
46.) Taken a ride in an ambulance
47.) Had your portrait painted
48.) Gone deep sea fishing
49.) Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower
50.) Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
51.) Kissed in the rain
52.) Played in the mud
53.) Gone to a drive-in theater
54.) Been in a movie
55.) Visited the Great Wall of China
56.) Started a business
57.) Taken a martial arts class
58.) Visited Russia
59.) Worked at a soup kitchen
60.) Sold Girl Scout cookies/Sold Sports Raffle tickets (this one was biased to the girls, so I added the ‘raffle ticket’ option for guys)
61.) Gone whale watching
62.) Gotten flowers for no reason
63.) Donated blood, platelets, or plasma
64.) Gone sky diving
65.) Visited Nazi concentration camp
66.) Bounced a check
67.) Flown in a helicopter
68.) Saved a childhood toy
69.) Visited the Lincoln Memorial
70.) Eaten caviar
71.) Pieced a quilt
72.) Stood in Times Square
73.) Toured the Everglades
74.) Been fired from a job
75.) Seen the changing of the guards in London
76.) Broken a bone
77.) Been a passenger on a motorcycle
78.) Seen the Grand Canyon in person
79.) Published a book
80.) Visited the Vatican
81.) Bought a brand new car
82.) Visited Jerusalem
83.) Had your picture in the paper
84.) Kissed a stranger at midnight on New Year’s Eve
85.) Visited the White House
86.) Killed and prepared an animal for eating
87.) Had chickenpox
88.) Saved someone’s life
89.) Sat on a jury
90.) Met someone famous
91.) Joined a book club
92.) Got a tattoo
93.) Had a baby
94.) Seen the Alamo in person
95.) Swam in the Great Salt Lake
96.) Been involved in a law suit
97.) Owned a cell phone
98.) Been stung by a bee
99.) Swam in the Black Sea

48 out of 99. Yeah… still have quite a few things to do. Hopefully I will get a chance to do some of them this year

Until the next time “Milieunairs”!

Have you ever wondered where Easter Eggs come from? As you can see, a picture is worth a 1000 words – “Easter Bunny at work”! Love it!

I trust you have all had a fantastic Easter filled with tons of delicious chocolate surprises and much needed family time! As most of you already know my entire family makes a huge deal out of Easter. Every year we all go away together, to some remote location, where we bond, fight and have a jolly good time! This years familial Easter retreat was no different! Check out the photographs!

This year I ended up having one hell of a ‘cracking’ time, often ‘spiralling’ out of control and then ending with an unexpected ‘break’. Literally!

What you are reading now, I have had to type with one hand and on my mobile phone – no easy feat and one that is definitely tiring. I am using my none dominant left hand to be exact. Say what?!

Yes… I managed to break my right arm, on Saturday 11th April 2009 at approximately 14:45. My first broken bone too… So much for self-preservation! You know what I have just realised… This falls into my The Year of The New resolution of New Experiences that I blogged about *OMG moment*. Damn… I need to be more careful and definitive in future when I make resolutions because this year has been crazy thus far!

Well, as fate would have it, I am now sporting a Spiral Fracture of the right Humerus. How? Simple really… Through ‘Arm Wrestling’!

No, I’m not joking. I broke my arm via arm wrestling, of all things. Okay, you can stop with the incredulous look and vehement sniggering now. As it turns out, this kind of injury is actually quite common with regards to arm wrestling – just Google it and/or check out these links: Body Building Forums and Scientific Journal. I mean… Who knew?! Furthermore, I was, as a matter of fact, winning before my arm snapped! Subsequently, and before you have to ask, no there is nothing wrong with my bones nor are they weak or brittle. I did read somewhere, the source evades me at this moment in time, that the bicep muscle is often, like in my case because I was winning, a major cause of the fracture, strange but true. Just goes to show how strong our bodies can actually be.

A lot of people have asked me what it was like the moment my arm broke and how painful it was. Look, to be completely honest, I cannot recall any pain at the moment my arm snapped. I just remember hearing an awful crack, my arm wobbling like jelly, an intense numbness (courtesy of a pinched nerve) and an inability to move my fingers and hand (which, thankfully, only lasted for a few seconds). I immediately knew that my arm was broken. I just knew. I grasped my arm close to my chest, instinctively holding it in an ‘L’ shape and moved away from the arm wrestling table all the while attempting to move my fingers. I would describe the pain as a deep, untouchable and continuous throb when held still. Obviously any movement of my arm resulted in piercing sweat inducing stabs of pain. The entire family witnessed my arm break. It is now a historical moment that will be remembered by all and for years to come *sigh*. I can hear it already, for instance: "No arm wrestling kids, remember when Hansie broke his arm" or “Be careful Hans, we don’t want you to ‘break’ anything else”. I have already been labelled as the ‘One Armed Bandit’ *rolls eyes*.

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Thankfully I do not require surgery even though the break is quite bad. According to the Surgeon the only benefit between surgery and healing ‘conventionally’, in my case anyway, is the recovery time. Turns out I may also end up with a slight kink in my arm, but I reckon that will just make me truly unique. Living with only one working arm has been tough. Tougher than I thought it would be particularly because I have to keep my arm as still as possible. My folks even have to bathe me and I cannot drive, not yet anyway. The loss of my autonomy has been rather hard to deal with. As a result I truly have even more sympathy for the less capable, since I now have a ‘first hand’ (mind the pun) experience of what having a handicap could be like.

Arm Wrestling – A compilation of "breaks"

Curious to see what happens when your arm breaks, specifically during ‘arm wrestling’? Then check out the video above. I cannot help but cringe every time I watch an arm break since I now know the pain, trials and tribulations associated with a broken arm.

Until the next time “Milieunairs”!