Sunshine Challenge #2

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Prompt #2 is Who are You?

Below the cut is an explanation of the 'stonepicnicking' part of stonepicnicking_okapi, a few words on my default icon, and a brief description of my path to fandom.



I’ve explained the story behind ‘okapi’ more than once, but I don’t think I’ve mentioned where ‘stonepicnicking’ comes from. It comes from Benedict Cumberbatch’s pronunciation of the phrase ‘stone picnic’ in the BBC Radio drama Spellbound, a remake of the Hitchcock thriller. I like voices and I like Cumberbatch’s especially, and the phrase has stuck in my head since the first days I was drawn into the BBC Sherlock fandom (via an infatuation with Cumberbatch himself) in the summer of 2011. The phrase ‘stone picnic’ is not one we use in the US, so it has always struck me as exotic and, therefore, attractive. There is also the hint of the quality of liking to give pleasure to others and not especially liking to receive it, which is apt, too. I like to move readers in positive ways with my fic and poems, but I don’t get nearly the same amount or same degree of pleasure from reading fic (though I do like it, don’t get me wrong). Not surprisingly, I write much more than I read; there almost always has to be a personal, compelling reason me to read something, which is usually a high regard for the author.

The photo is of a stuffed okapi I bought when I took my boys to the zoo (which has okapis and a photo of one of them is my AO3 icon). The red mug was a 100% impulse buy when I was queuing in the checkout lane of Target one winter. I bought it because it reminded me of BBC John Watson (a cream-coloured knit jumper). I never actually keep the jumper on the mug because it’s a pain to take on and off for the dishwasher, but I still use the mug itself. The okapi's in the closet (heh, heh) and the jumper is in a drawer.

I watched BBC Sherlock the summer of 2011 while on maternity leave after the birth of my first son. I had some post-partum depression and the TV show really helped distract me from that. I went to the internet to find out more about Cumberbatch and found fandom and fanfic and AO3. After more than a year of reading fanfic I decided to try my hand at it myself (in December 2013) because there wasn’t enough of philalethia’s genderswapped Johnlock and the rest is history.

I only came to the whole world of fandom and shipping and the rest (more or less) six years ago. Unlike many Sherlock Holmes fans, I never shipped Holmes & Watson growing up. I would’ve never occurred to me to ship any characters in any kind of media or literature. I read the Sherlock Holmes stories for the mysteries (I know, but yes!) and never thought much about Watson’s role at all. I never wrote fanfic or original stories as a child or adolescent. I never wrote poetry until a couple of years ago (with the encouragement of the LJ sherlock60 community). Nevertheless, here I am, and I am enjoying myself, thank you very much.

Comments

[smallhobbit]

I'd never have guessed you only began writing poetry a few years ago - you're so talented at it.

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

I still remember your (and debris & frankles) lessons on metre in the comments o section of the announcement. My only proper instruction! :)

Sunshine Challenge ☼ 2019

[oldtoadwoman]

And now I've just spent an hour listening to a BBC radio drama. :-)

Re: Sunshine Challenge ☼ 2019

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

I love your icon! Miasma is one of my favourite words.

Thank you! I hope you enjoyed it! I find it to be a charming story. Very romantic.

Re: Sunshine Challenge ☼ 2019

[oldtoadwoman]

I liked the misdirect because I, of course, made the obvious assumption at the start.

It's from a They Might Be Giant's song "Why Does The Sun Really Shine" which is a sequel/retraction to "Why Does The Sun Shine" which had the lyric "the sun is a mass of incandescent gas". Enough people complained that the sun isn't made of gas, it's plasma, and presumably, they spent some time pondering "But what rhymes with plasma?" and then they came out with the new song.

[ancientreader]

Here is the most embarrassing confession any copy editor has ever made: I have been reading your username as "stonepicking_okapi" forever and as you have probably noticed but have been far too polite to point out, have tagged you as such in my posts. So uh yeah. So I'm going to slink off and hide in the bathtub now.

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Don't worry! I didn't notice! But it makes me think I have a fierce banjo-playing doppelganger out there! Ha!

[ancientreader]

Yes, yes, that's it -- I was addressing myself to your invisible twin!

[autumnia]

*cough* I think I may also be guilty of reading it as "stonepicking" instead of "stonepicnicking" too! Maybe because stonepicking seems more logical. :-)

[ancientreader]

High five to my fellow oblivious reader!

[enemytosleep]

I really enjoyed learning about your username, and I love that you found fandom and have taken the dive!

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Thank you! Late to the party but having a splendid time nonetheless!

[kass]

Here via sunshine_challenge, just saying hi and I enjoyed reading your responses.

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Thank you! I enjoyed your crown of sonnets. I sometimes write a Sherlock Holmes version of Sentinel 'verse (with Guides & Sentinels) and enjoyed it very much.

[mafief]

I've been meaning to reply to this post for a while and now I have some time to do so.

So confession... When I've read your username before this post I thought it was stonepicking. The other letters in there didn't register as important in my brain. Thus, whenever I read your username I imagined this tranquil, crystal clear stream with of round soft rocks and you were walking around them picking them up and examining them. So yah, I did a double take and realized that there are more letters there. I can totally see the appeal of this term now.

I enjoy reading about your story of coming to fic. Some of it you've told before, but it's neat to see what new details surface. I'm glad that BBC Sherlock provided a distraction for post-partum. So that means you got to experience the Reichenbach emotions and 'resolution' in real time instead of posthumously?

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Well if you read the commenters above, you'll see at least 2 other people are in the same boat.

Yes, I even for a while had one of those things that gives you a British IP address so that I could watched Season 2 in real time. And then I watched bootleg ones of Season 3. The theme song still gives me chills.