Crinblog

This post could quite easily tun into an absolute beast so I’m gonna do my best to just bring everything up to date in the most concise manner. Mostly by just missing out huge chunks of details so that infact, to an outsider, it probably won’t make any sense but… y’know, I don’t really care, that’s your problem.

So… when did I last post? January-ish, wow that’s proper ages ago. Erm… ok.

Well firstly things have been picking up for my business pretty fast this year, i’d laid alot of the ground wrok toward the end of last year and now it’s starting to show. It’s a catch 22 really cos I like having all the work, it means I’m busy and means I have money (wooo money) but it also means that often I’m so busy I don’t have time for the other things I’d rather be doing. That said, it’s definatly better to be busy then not.

Talking of things I’d rather be doing… FINAL FANTASY 12!!

Those words probably don’t mean much to alot of people but to the few who they do have meaning…. you understand my pain when I’m so busy I can’t play. To anyone in dark about the Final Fantasy series of games, firstly… SHAME ON YOU and secondly, it’s probably so geeky that your better of not getting involved.

The most significant thing to happen recently is probably my falling out with Matt, one of my best friends (now past tense). I’m not going to get into details on here (firstly because it’s not a good idea and secondly because I haven’t got the time) but I will say that I don’t fall out with people easily and a few things have happened that mean I no longer wish to see him. It’s sad because we’ve been though alot and he’s helped me though some really hard times (though this is in part what we have fallen out over), however it’s now just going to have to be part of my past along with alot of things, hopefully it’ll stay there (in the past). I won’t write about the actual events, I’ll get nothing from venting on here about it, like I have in the past about other things and in all honestly I’d rather just forget about the whole thing, learn from it and move on. The people who matter already have all the details so as far as the blog is concerned that’s that. I may post another private section with the details jst for myself. But I might not.

Jitsu wise things have been a bit nuts recently, we’ve had lots of Dan grades visting the club, namely Sensei Eric Lau and Sensei John Hamer. Both of which were very intense sessions and resulted in many MANY brusies. Then this weekend just gone we had the Randori Nationals which is a two day even including training and competition. I attended (despite having to get up at 4am on a saturday morning) and came home on Sundaywith a bronze medal for Ne Waza (groundfighting) which is pretty good. I didn’t do so well in the Nage Waza (standing/throwing). I got thrown extremly well by the person I was fighting, they used Tomoe Nage (circle throw) which is a sacrifice throw.

Overall it was a very good weekend, Jade came down to support which was really nice, even though she looked quite pale everytime I had to fight. I’ll post some videos of my fight another day (only the ones I won). I’m currently trying to get the blood out of my gi, mwah ha ha ha ha ha ha!!

You know what, I know there’s toher stuff but I can’t actually think of any of ti at the moment and i need to get on with some work (this seems to be a stock ending to posts these days) so I’ll write again soon (ish).

I haven’t abandoned my blog I promise. I’ve just had alot on and not really found time to post. I have MUCH to write though so as soon as I find some time I will update properly.

Ok so I’m lame, it’s over a fortnight into the new year and I’ve not written anything yet. But here goes with the now mandatory R&R post. (I’m a creature of habit)

So last year in summary…

Started Ju Jitsu in February, one of my new years resolutions from last year, and one of the best things I’ve done in ages. It’s made a world of difference to my health and introduced me to a whole new group of interesting (if slightly quirky) people. My fitness now is at least ten times better than this time last year and I’m now a Green belt which isn’t bad going in a year. This was definatly a good thing this year.

Effexor. Yay, I stopped taking these in March last year which means I’m not far off a year without them. It was really quite rank actually at the time but I’m glad I did it. I still suffer from relapses in my anxiety but I cope just as well without the medicine so I’m glad to be free from it.

My Mum. I probably didn’t talk about it much on here at the time but my Mum and Pete, her long term partner since my Dad died when I was 7 split up. It was weird cos they had been kind of drifting apart anyways but when they actually broke up it was gross. It upset my Mum alot more than she would let on and that upsets me alot. It’s kind of ongoing, as these things usually are, so hopefully some good will come of it this year. Hopefully.

Holiday. I was nervous about this actually, mostly becuase from past personal experience and from other peoples too that going on holiday with your girlfriend is a good way to jinx the relationship. But it was ill founded, me and Jade rarely fall out and this was no exception, infact we had a fantastic time, especially quad biking, I think we both found a new love that day! It was nice that it was with my family too, were gonna go again this year which I’m pretty chuffed about.

Creamfields. Awesome as ever and a bigger group of us went this year which made it extra special.

Evo’s / Iocus. Well Evo’s shut and Iocus was born, at first I wasn’t at all keen but as time went on I realised that infact Iocus now gets alot fo the things Evo’s never did. Style mostly, but also the new owner, although a little unusual for a nightspot owner, is passionate about the bar being a success and that makes the world of difference. Still I do miss Evo’s.

Matt and Claire. This was pretty awful actaully, Matt and Claire two of my best friends who’d been together for nearly 6 years split up. It was awful becuase they’d just bought a house together too but I guess it’s just one of those things. Not everything can last forever. They both seem to be getting on with things well now but it was awful at the time and effected alot of people just purely becuase they seemed so solid.

Cataract. My main bit of bad news for the year I guess. I was told that I had a cataract in my right eye and that without surgery it’d keep getting worse and i’d go blind. So obviously I’ll be having the surgery but I can’t say I’m best pleased.

Jade. Is awesome. There’s not alot more to say but in all honestly we seem to get on better and grow closer each day, cheesy as it sounds but it’s actually true. I love her.

So this year coming…

Well my resolution is to expand the business and make the push I’ve been putting off for ages and try and win some big clients. I’ve had growth last year but it’s been slow and I need to really push this year in order t make it into someting worthwhile.

I’m bricking it about the surgery on my eye should I need that this year, if it doesn’t get any worse then I won’t have the op yet, I’m gonna put it off for as long as possible. But if it does then it’s preferable to going blind.

Eventually Jade’s parents want to sell this house (we rent from them) so I guess we need to start getting are acts together money wise for when we eventually need to look for somewhere, also there’s lots of things that need doing to this house before it gets sold.

Anyways, I’m not really helping my business by writing this when I shoul be working so I’m gonna leave it at that… other than to just say one thing…

FATNECK!

He knows who he is!

I noticed a few weeks ago that the vision in my right eye wasn’t as it should be, at first I kept cleaning my glasses thinking they had dirt on them but I soon realised this wasn’t the case. The best way to describe it is that it looks like the room is steamed up, a bit like in a sauna. I decided I better go to the opticans and have them take a look at it.

It turns out I have a cataract in my right eye! How shit is that?

The optician was a bit baffled as most people don’t get cataracts till there at least 60 so she referred me to the hospital. I went there today and saw the optomatho optomotalogis eye specialists and they confimed it. They did seem a little bit puzzled by why I’d got it so early, so rapidly and in only one eye. They toyed with the idea of it being from Jitsu but said it was more tha likely just down to bad luck.

The real shitter is there’s no treatment for it, the only thing they can do is surgical removal of the clouded natural lens and replacement with a plastic lens, but that means i waon’t be able to to read without reading glasses. Also there’s a 2% the surgery will make my vision worse and apparently 1 in 1000 people can actually go completly blind from the surgery or even lose the eye completly! So i’m pretty unhappy. Not exactly what I wanted for Christmas this year.

Anyways, in an effort to stop myself continually convincing myself it’s got worse i’ve made my own eye chart so I can benchmark the deteriation. It may seem daft but it’ll actually help me from letting my anxiety runaway with itself.

The only good thing was I got to take this cool picture of my eye while it was heavily dilated from the drugs they put in it this morning at the eye clinic.

Anyways, Merry Christmas everyone, all donations to the Crin’s new eye fund will be appreciated!

W00t!

Ok I should have blogged this last week… I got my Green belt in Ju Jitsu! It was pretty difficult but was definatly worth it in the end. There’s not much to say about it other than it now means i have to do all manner of horrific breakfalling at training and getting beaten by our sensei…

In that picture it looks like I’m winning, but trust me… i’m so not.

Better news than that though! The Jade is back! Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay! I really missed her! It’s been a funny couple of weeks inside my head but having her back has cleared all that and made me realise how much she really means to me! I’m so glad to have her back, she’s perfect.

I really don’t have alot to say but I wanted to blog so I’m not leaving it too long till the nexy one. TTFN

Ok, so not only have I finally managed to get Wordpress to co-operate when it comes to posting YouTube videos (this could mean me posting ALOT of videos) but I also found this…

I HAVE to have one of these, not NEED, WANT or DESIRE. I simply HAVE to have one… now!

*SIGH*

Well… Jade set off to America last night and she doesn’t get back here until the 9th December which REALLY sucks. I already miss her which is silly cos I never see her in the daytime anyways.

She’s going over to Florida with her Mum and Dad to see her Sister who’s been working over there since the start of the summer. She’ll have a really nice time, and I know she’s been missing her Sister alot since she left but I’m going to really struggle without her on all levels. I’m really going to miss her emotionally becuase recently I’ve been realising something about our realtionship, it seems to have worked backwards from most realtionships I’ve been in… By this I mean, when you meant someone you tend to feel the stringest pull at the start, but with Jadeit’s been the toher way round, the longer were together to more I realise how right we are for each other and the more I want to be with her. So her being away is going to be HORRIBLE.

On top of the fact that I’m going to be sad that she’s not here, I’m actulaly going to struggle day to day which is a bit pathetic. I rely too heavily on her for keeping me running, i.e. organising me, deciding when things need doing, cooking, cleaning, washing. Infact the only thing I seem to do for myself without her helping or prompting me to do it is my own personal higene which is pretty lame. So I suppose I should see this fortnight as an opportunity to sort myself out and up my game a bit so I’m not such a needy useless mess when she gets back. I’ve always been pretty bad for that sort of stuff, even in previous relationships and I need to stop being so useless.

I’m feeling OK today, a little anxious but I know that’s becuase of Jade being away, I’m nervous about my upcoming grading, more so for the fact that I don’t have Jade around to encourage and support me.

Anyways, no doubt I’ll be blogging agian about how miserable I am in a few days so see you then…

Well It was only May that i got my M600 but already i have another new phone! The M600 i had last that i mentioned dropiing in the toilet a few weeks back was replaced on my insurance with Orange, but the replacements didn’t work. To cut a long story short I’ve been meesed about so much with replacemtns this past fortnight that orange have sent me the new version of the Orange SPV instead! Sweet! Plus I can still upgrade at my normal time.

So now I have the splendiferous new Orange SPV M3100! I’ve not been able to switch on yet but it’s very purdy! It’s pretty much the same as the M600 in functionality except it has the added benefits of a full slide out keybord, more powerful WiFi and is 3G enabled (not that i’ll EVER make a video call).

It’s basically the HTC TyTN, can’t wait till it’s charged so I can play with it.

So that’s pretty good news.

Bad news wise Jade goes to America in just under a week for a fortnight, can’t say I’m looking forward to that (actually I’m dreading it) PLus while she’s away I have my Green Belt grading in Ju Jitsu which is gonna be a bit intense.

Anywho, i’m off to play with my new toy.

The title say it all I think but in case anyone’s suddenly thinking of screaming “liable” then i’ll explain…

Last week I got a call from Egg explaining that they could offer me a low intrest loan to pay off the credit card I have with them, therby clearing the balance sooner. Jolly nice of them I thought and agreed to go ahead with the idea. Unfotunatly it wasn’t as straightforward as that, I couldn’t get further credit, i was informed, becuase there was a defaulted amount on my account of £51 from a telecommunications company. I contested that I knew nothing about any default on my account, but it didn’t get me anywhere.

I looked into it on my credit file with Equifax and sure enough there’s a default on there for £51 from NTL! The bastards! I canceled my account with NTL over a year ago and I’ve never had so much as a letter from them since never mind a bill or a notice of default. So… I decided to ring them…

And it began…

Anyone who’s ever rung NTL to do anything other then give them money will testify with me on this I’m certain… there customer service is SHIT! No-one wants to help you, most don’t even seem to know how, all they seem able to do is pass you to another useless depertment to be delt with in the same exact manner and often passed straight back. To cut along story short I had to speak to at least 10 different people all of whom were equally as useless as the rest of them to get where? Fucking nowhere! All i got over and over again was the same story…

They say that the bills, letters, demands ecetera have all been sent out to my current address (I left it with them when i cancelled the account). I’ve never recieved a single piece of post from NTL at this house. They also say that they passed the account onto an external debt collection agency, I called the agency and they’ve never even heard of me. What the fuck? Honestly NTL don’t seem to have the first clue about me, my account or why all this has happened. The only thing they ARE sure about is that it’s not there fault and they can’t do anything to help me. Fucking great!

Anyways, I’m going to send it all through Otelo which is the Office for the Telecomunications Ombudsman. They’ve said they can help me get a decision form NTL but first I have to complain to NTL in writing and give them 3 months to resolve the situation. *sighs*

Here’s the letter…

NTL Customer Loyalty Manager,
Customer Concern (Otelo),
Concord House,
Concord Business Park,
Threapwood Road,
Withenshaw,
Manchester,
M22 0EY.
Dear Sir/Madam,
I am writing to complain after being advised to do so by the Office of the Telecommunications Ombudsman (Otelo).
I was recently declined Credit by a loan company on the grounds that I had an outstanding default on my account, I knew nothing about a default and obtained my credit report from Equifax. On receiving my report I discovered a defaulted amount of £51 from NTL registered in March this year, this I found to be very strange as I cancelled my account with NTL In October last year.
I rang NTL and was informed that I hadn’t paid my last bill after the disconnection, I explained that I have never received a bill and was not even aware there was an outstanding amount on the account. I was told bills had been issued to my current address (the one I left as a forwarding address when I called to cancel), as had reminder letters. I was also informed that the debt had been passed onto an external debt collection agency called Morcroft, who should also have sent me letters, none of which I have ever received. I contacted Morcroft to see if they had me on file and ask why I hadn’t heard from them, they looked for me in there database but apparently they have no record of me (I was informed they keep all account on record for 5 years even after they pass them back to their client).
I am willing to pay the money I owe to NTL, I would have paid it at the time had I received notification that there was an outstanding balance. However, I want the default removing from my credit report, not just marking as satisfied but removing all together as it is there though no fault of my own.
In addition I would like a written apology from NTL for the manner in which I have been handled since I started investigating this situation.
I have spoken to at least ten different people at NTL regarding this matter, not because I kept calling but because I kept getting transferred from department to department. The really frustrating thing was that it wasn’t even different departments, it was just back and forth between Credit Control, Customer Services and Customer Relations. I kept telling people I had already spoken to the other departments and that they had in fact transferred me across to them, but it didn’t matter I would still be transferred or given a different number to call that would take me straight back to where I started.
I challenged this on a number of calls and was met with a variety of responses…
In one call I told the person I was speaking to (Herve, Luton Office, NTL Credit Control) that I had been transferred to them by Customer Services, at which point he started complaining at me about how many people in my situation he’d had to speak to, and how Customer Services kept offloading calls on his department. After explaining my situation (again) he even advised me to take legal action against NTL and said he would be angry if it was him.
In another call (Samina, NTL Customer Services) after explaining my situation (yet again) and requesting specifically she not transfer me to anyone else, especially not Credit Control again, I was put on hold, then after waiting on hold the phone was answered by Credit Control! After explaining what had just happened the person (Amar, Luton Office, NTL Credit Control) explained that other departments within NTL were very bad. When I told him I had been lied to when told I wouldn’t be transferred he responded with “I appreciate there are liars within our company”
The whole thing has been very stressful, explaining my situation over and over to people who seemed uninterested and eager to pass me onto another department, being lied to and having to listen to your own staff explain how bad the company was several times. I have a diagnosed anxiety disorder and this has also been aggravated by this experience.
Eventually, after requesting it several times with different people, I managed to speak to a supervisor in Credit Control (Holly Walshe, Luton Office). She advised me there was nothing she could do. Otelo have told me at this point I should write to you.
As I say, I would like the default removing from my account and a letter of apology. I am willing to pay the amount owed if I am shown a bill (I have been advised a duplicate has been sent out to me). I would appreciate your help on this, I realise it isn’t any one person’s fault but I don’t see why I should suffer due to circumstances beyond my control.
I would prefer to settle this directly with NTL, however if this cannot be the case can I please have it writing so Otelo can start their enquiry.
Sincerely,
Michael Crinnion

On top of all this I dropped my phone in the toilet last Sunday and it’s taken three replacement handsets and 6 phone calls to Orange to work out that it’s the sim that’s broken, I’ve only just got it working again today! AND I’ve been walking through treacle with Tesco trying to get money Tesco owe me for my windscreen replacement from May!

It’s not been a good week for me and big companies! Maybe I should start some new branches of my company!? How does Crin Telecommunications and Insurance Inc sound?