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When somebody tags you with a meme, and it's the first time anyone does that to you, the least you can do is fall out to bed at 3am to oblige.

So, after a gentle nudge by Mike at Troubled Diva, here we go.

Seven successes in 2006.

1. Becoming a consultant for my current employer, a large media organisation I had been admiring for as long as I can remember and harbouring a not-very-secret ambition to work for them one day. The day I landed the contract was the proudest I'd ever felt since finding out I'd got a first in my degree, and that was a very long time ago.
2. Moving into a beautiful flat, conveniently placed in the heart of Gay Vauxhall (and then stopping going out almost completely, go figure). More of a success for Dr B. who bought the flat, to be entirely accurate. Still, it was a long ordeal that I followed closely, from the day he put his old flat on the market (early September 2005) to the day we moved in (5 May 2006). I also played a major role decluttering the old flat to make it more appealing to potential buyers, and in keeping it tidy and clean every single day because the estate agents could bring people round any time.
3. Going to my first Eurovision Song Contest live experience (Athens, May, miles away from the action, up, up in the last rows with a partial view of the stage) and seeing Madonna live for the first time (Confessions tour, July, Cardiff, about 15 metres away from her skilfully concealed wrinkles). I'd wanted to do both for so many years that I was worried my very high expectations were going to leave me slightly disappointed. I needn't have feared: Madonna was worth every one of the many, many, many pounds I spent on her gig ticket, and living the ESC experience is just as magic as I thought it was going to be. Goosebumps just thinking about it now.
4. Becoming a full-time employee after years of consultancies and freelance assignments (with the above employer, in a much-sought after new role I had been after for a while – life could not be better). Sadly, I now earn less than I used to, but my pension fund is starting to smile again, and I no longer shiver at the thought of even a simple three-day flu that in the past would have meant a 14% cut in my monthly salary.
5. Meeting my brother. Twice. More of a 'being in same room for five minutes with estranged sibling', for the first time in over fifteen years. He still gives me the creeps and has the power to paralyse me with fear, but this time I resisted the urge to hide until he went away, and that is a success, albeit a bitter-sweet one. It comes with the realisation that today I am safe in a new life 700 miles away from him. It's a long and complex story that spans over thirty years and that I feel I am not prepared to go into here.
6. Making big improvements at striking a healthier balance between an unbridled emotional side and a stifled rational instinct, and feeling all the better for it. I took great leaps in this respect in 2006, with the expected occasional highs and lows, and I can see the results almost daily in my reaction to what surrounds me.
7. Turning going to the gym into a habit I enjoy rather than a chore I have to do. Some time during the course of 2006 I realised that it is fun, and the feeling of well-being after a workout is now what I am after, rather than a perfect body or lifting heavier weights than you. And that changed everything. The proof is in how regularly I attended the gym this year (a steady average of three times a week) as opposed to the extremes of the previous years (twice a day every day for a few weeks, then nothing at all for up to a month).

Five things you didn't know about me (and that you will soon know if you care to keep reading)

1. I like to put things in boxes, and stick label on them. There is a bookcase behind my desk with twelve identical plain cardboard boxes, each with a post-it note on it describing what is inside. There are another eight smaller plain cardboard boxes on the shelves in front of me, again with post-it notes. Sometimes, if the contents fall into more than one category, these boxes may contain even more boxes. Of course, that does not stop me from hoarding things and jamming them into the first container I happen to find. But putting a lid on it and sticking a label that says 'Junk – to sort' restores balance in the universe.
2. I ate 946 small snack-size apples during 2006. I can tell you that because I have been regularly keeping a food diary for a couple of years now. It's not something I particularly enjoy doing, but it's the only way I know to have some sort of consciousness of what I eat, and that helps me maintain a healthy weight.
3. Some years ago I had a major virtual crush on an blogger I have never met. I read his every word religiously, sent him a book off his wishlist on his birthday, and thought of him holding me in his geeky arms as I fell asleep most nights. Thinking of it all now, I can very well see how some individuals with less than sturdy personalities could slide into stalking. All I ever did was save some of the photos of himself he posted on his blog – which I still have on my hard drive by the way. I'm smiling as I write this, I suppose it's because I'm looking at my web-adolescent self.
4. I roll my deodorant stick fifteen times under each armpit. Always. I have no idea why or how or when I started this, but any other way would feel wrong. I have absolutely no other quirky behaviours like flicking the light switch on and off a certain number of times, or checking and checking and then checking again if I've perhaps, maybe, just in case, you never know, left the gas on (also because we have ceramic plates). But deodorant, it's rolling it fifteen times that gives you all-day protection. Everybody knows that.
5. I am much happier walking faster for longer than slower for a shorter time. If the direct path between A and B is jammed with people, I'll always go via C. So every morning when I change trains at Oxford Circus on one of the most crowded intersections (Victoria line to Central line) I follow the exit signs instead, go up one level, then turn around, go back down one level through virtually deserted corridors at peak time and pop onto the platform at the emptier end. Same thing on the way home from work. You can always spot me on the train as the only passenger in a good mood. Next time, come and say hello.

Now, I know it is customary to and pass the meme on to other people to keep it going, but would it be really horrible if I dropped the ball now?

Alright then. Chig, DG, Jonathan. Please try do not hate me too much.

• Mike's post on Troubled Diva that started all this
• Mike's reminder that he has tagged me with the meme