Full Name: Charles Christopher Johnson

Born: December 14, 1961 @ Good Samaritan Hospital, West Palm Beach Florida, USA

Height: About 6 ft.

Weight: Slim, lithe scrawny, take your pick.

Hair: Dark. A few gray whiskers starting to creep in

Eyes: Green

Current Residence: Delray Beach, FL 33483

No, the picture is not of me. It is my dog. His name is CJ. I will answer to "CJ", but usually go by "Chris". If you really want to see a picture of me, click on the dog.

The Work / School Thing

I was born and raised in the suburban hell that is south Florida. My family moved to Montana for about three years while I was a teenager. Then we moved back to Florida. I lived here until I went to graduate school at the University of Oregon, then back to Florida. I got sick of some things in Florida, so I moved to Yellowstone National Park for a while (see my Yellowstone pages), then got sick of Yellowstone, so back to Florida again. Some day I might settle down. Or not.

If you are interested in seeing my resume then follow the link.

Stuff I Like

I like gardening, especially growing orchids. I also like carnivorous plants, weird tropical vegetables, bromeliads, anything strange or unusual. As long as it is in the plant kingdom I would probably like to grow it.

I like to take pictures.

I like to go to the beach, go swimming or body surfing in the bathtub warm Florida ocean, and bake in the sun. I manage to get there every now and then, but usually not as long as I like.

I like my doggies and kitties.

I like playing with my computer, seeing what I can make it do.

I like traveling and camping. Unfortunately, like with the beach, I haven't done very much camping lately.

I like to cook and eat good food.

I like to listen to rock music, especially punk. Like with the plants, as long as it is strange and unusual I would probably like it. My long time companion James has got me to where I even like baroque organ music and other classical stuff. He doesn't like it when I compare Bach to the Ramones. He just can't see the similarities.

What I Have Been Doing Lately

Mainly taking care of James.

This is James.

I had been with James for about 13 years. We had an upholstery shop together, and it was doing very well. James started drinking heavily, so I left, went to Yellowstone for three years. I got dissatisfied with working there and lonely, and James claimed he had quit drinking ( the only out and out lie to me I ever caught him in ), so I decided to give it another try with him. Got back to Florida in October '97 and things were going pretty well. Then James got sick.

James has AIDS.  He had known he had the virus since shortly after I moved to Yellowstone in the fall of '95, but had never been sick from it. Then in May '98 he suddenly couldn't talk very well. At first we thought it might be a stroke, then the diagnosis was toxoplasmosis. Now the diagnosis is PML, Progressive Multifocal Leukoencephalopathy. This is a really bad disease that destroys the brain. It is caused by a virus that most people already have. All sorts of nasty things can happen to a person when their immune system is damaged. There are no proven treatments, never mind a cure, and it is almost always fatal.

So lately I have been struggling to keep our little household going, and James out of a nursing home. It's not easy. It is emotionally exhausting. It's just not easy watching someone you care about be so sick. It is difficult to be tied to one person, to have to watch over them and help them all the time. It can be physically exhausting, like when I was trying to work in our shop and James was acting like a 130 pound toddler, into everything, on the go day and night, but one who liked to chain smoke, play with lighters, and could unlock all the doors. He has calmed down a lot since then, and I haven't had to worry about work much since I haven't had much lately. But it can be rewarding in it's own way. I have never had to take care of someone before, never had anyone depending on me, never wanted to do those things. I am learning about that. In a strange sort of way it's not so bad, not as bad as I thought it was. I'm learning that I can do things I thought would be too difficult to do. I am learning not to worry so much. Besides, I don't really have a choice. The little feller has done too much for me over the years for me to turn my back on him now.

Actually James is doing so much better lately.  I didn't want to take that last paragraph out, but James has been steadily improving for over a year now.  He can do a little more each week.  He still can't talk, that makes thing difficult.  Sometimes the "experts" still say he is dying, and that can cause problems sometimes, and it's true he does still have AIDS, but I figure that it is now my job to help him get back to being able to live a fully independent life on his own if he wants to or needs to.  It's slow and can be very frustrating for him, but it looks like I will have him around at least a few more years, who knows how long really.  Life is getting a lot more normal around here.  I am even looking for a real job lately.  Sort of.  It's been a while, I'm kind of out of practice on the 9 to 5, having a boss discipline thing, so it's a little scary, but I think it might be a nice change of pace.  I have been studying computer programming here at home when I get a spare minute or two.   Maybe someday I will be proficient enough that it will actually be useful for making money.  Then, with a job and excess money I can afford to take a vacation even.

So the lesson is:

You never know.  Things might actually turn out not so bad every now and then.