“Hello! And welcome back to my channel, Crafty Rafty, the home of all things arts, crafts, and creation. I’m Raffy, and as per usual, I’ll be talking through my latest costume creation, answering questions, and reviewing supplies.”

I spin through my usual intro. I have rehearsed it many times in front of the tiles in my shower, which give limited feedback. Porcelain, as a material, is very hard to impress.

“Today, we’re picking up where we left off with my latest build: Plasma Siren. I’m planning on wearing her to Controverse this year, and if all goes well, I might even be competing next year. So, what do you think? Is all going well?”

I hold up the garment so far. One day, it will be an incredible cosplay of my favorite, favorite mini boss from last year’s indie breakout game, Wake, which is about haunted islands in the Bermuda Triangle. Right now, it’s just a mottled mess of fabric, but today I’m applying scales and rhinestone fin detailing. This is actually something I should do after I’ve sewn the rest of the bodysuit together, but I’m too excited to wait.

“So, a huge shout-out to one of you. I have no idea who, but one of you must have really been listening during my last stream, because today I arrived home to a package from an unknown sender. And what did I find in it? The exact rhinestones I needed to bedazzle Plasma Siren’s fins.”

I pause, more to keep myself from laughing than anything else. Someone—a total stranger—bought me craft supplies off my wish list. It’s a looooong list I keep updated on Amazon with the supplies I’m working with, and theoretically people can buy me stuff from it and ship the packages to my house without them having to know where I live. It’s like a wedding registry, but for a single person, and that single person is single because of their ridiculously demanding preoccupation with arts and crafts. And I say theoretically because until now, no one has ever thrown money down for my cause. But, with these rhinestones as my witnesses, someone believes in me! Which means it’s finally happening. My star! It’s rising! I’m practically already the executive producer of my own Netflix show.

“So whoever sent these, thank you.”

There is much more I want to say, but I need to act cooler than I feel.

“Anyway, there are many ways to stone things. Plasma Siren’s fins aren’t your typical surface. They’re plastic, and even though they are opaque, you can see that the surface is super smooth. That’s not great for glue. So before we get to gluing, we’re going to need to give the glue something to grip.”

As I talk, I pick a patch of sandpaper.