About Me
Overview
My name is Aidan "Botodo" Connolly, but a majority of my active friends call me "Bo". I am a creative, mostly just creating what feels right for me in the moment. I like to try new things more than anything, but find myself struggling to start. I love drawing, painting, journalling, gaming, listening to music, anime, Smash, and just sitting on the patio talking with my friends.
Born and raised in San Bernardino County, California, I have a deep love for Mexican food and will till the end of my days. Grew up playing so many video games, but Super Smash Bros. was my first love. This ended up continuing even until now, going from Smash 4 to Smash Ultimate and now ending up at a modded version of Ultimate titled Hewdraw Remix. It is peak.
In 2023, I moved across the states to the Mid-West to live with my long distance partner. Since this time, I have spent most of my time just focusing on my mental health and communication skills to become the best partner that I am capable of being. I want to know that I make someones life at least a bit easier.
As I have undergone this process for myself, I have been relearning my childhood, re-building my empathy, and trying my best just to make this place a lil better than I found it.
My Coming of Age Story
The coming of age story dates back as far as 800 BC with Homer's "The Odyssey". It is a formula that is so intrinsic to our nature as people simply because everyone has one.
My coming of age story starts in 9th grade, freshman year. One of the worst years of my life. I always hated high school. I went to Hesperia Christian School, which as it sounds, was in fact private. Private school kids are a nightmare. Entitled, priveleged, rich, proud, judgmental, the whole works (for the sake of honesty, these characteristics did and still do exist in myself in some way). But I never felt included, I did not have many friends because my class was less than 25 people, and the whole Jr. High + High School was made up of less than 200 students. There wasn't as much room for group hoping and finding your people. I was pretty alone during this time toward the end of that year. I always had my art and drawing to keep me company. Many people would consider this as "sad" but for me it was the best escape. I would create characters who I could relate to, or just truly wished I could have been.
As a result of this escape into my art, I felt that my connection with people was slowly degrading, but that didn't bother me. Most of the time, people kind of just hurt me, so why would I want to be around something that hurt me that much? Then came my Sophmore year, and with it the first year that I was able to take Drama.
That's right bitch, I'm a theatre kid!
If you are shocked by this, you probably should get to know me more. I'm a performative person to the max. I love being the center of attention (when it feels comfy for me to do so). But in high school and as the kid that everyone knew, this came as a large shock. When my classmates heard that I, the shy kid, joined the class that does something that most people fear more than death itself (that is not a joke, look it up), they were incredibly confused. And quite frankly? so was I. I don't remember the original reason why, but I remember my friend telling me to give it a shot as it would be "fun". And oh boy was she correct.
Now not only was this my first year in drama, it was also my first truly social class. I did not really have a choice to recluse like I did in other classes. I had to show other people who I was. Try-outs for our first play, William Shakespeare's "As You Like It", were held (which also, gotta say, Shakespeare?? Love him and his plays, but also this shit is NOT meant for High School students lol). My teacher stated "Ok I need all the boys on stage right now". So I begrudgingly got up onto the stage left corner, as far from line of site as I could. She then asked us "Alright, can ANY of you sing?"
Silence
No one wanted to do it. Including myself. And to this day, I dont know why, but I raised my hand into the air, sideways, palm facing down, wiggled it up and down and just said "EHhhhhhhhh?". That one choice, and I truly believe this, changed the course of my life as I know it.
She announced the cast list, and low and behold I was the singing role in the play, (which for the nerds out there, there is no singing in As You Like It, but there was in this one!) and she didn't even try my cords out first. She just trusted in her choice and believed that she made the right choice for it. We had a one on one, where I just had to try my best. After I was done shyfully forcing out each note, she turned off the music and then just looked at me, gave me a nod and said "yea we can work with this", (I cannot remember word for word on this one, but it was something along those lines).
I practiced for many days, just trying to become more confident in my voice, let alone singing. This was a task that felt so dauntless at the time. It felt as though I would walk onto that stage and everyone would just laugh at me, kind of like in a bad dream. But eventually the day came where I had to put my practice to the test. On that same day, I was with a friend of mine, the head honcho of the class if you will, over by production. He and my teacher were talking about who would walk out on stage and introduce the crowd and set the scene, otherwise known as "opening". My teacher asked who should open to my friend, and he turned and looked at me and just said "I think Aidan wants to do it". Which actually? I kind of did. But I did not say anything at the time because I was so terrified of even going on the stage, so why would I want to do that? That would obviously be too much. But she asked me "Do you want to open?"
I said "Yes"
I was sitting backstage just 20 minutes before I needed to open. Both arms were clasped sweatily to our classes comfy chair, (I loved that chair). I felt like I was about to throw up, cry, scream, and faint all at the same time. The most nervous I have ever been up until this point. But then a class member who didn't really talk to me much just asked me how I was feeling. I told him and he just said "Don't worry about it, your'e gonna do great". And that's what I needed to hear in that moment. That moment of reassurance allowed me to power through. I opened the show, got people to laugh, and after that, my nerves were gone. I didn't care that I had to sing in front of people anymore. Opening the show allowed me to get it all out of my system and to truly just give my all into the rest of the play.
After the show, my parents congratulated me and were truly just astounded. They had no clue that I was going to sing for this show, and I remember my dad simply told me
"I could never."
And in that moment, it helped me to go down a path where I would realize that I actually was capable of being... impressive to people? Like I could actually bring something unique to the table. I felt like I had worth in that moment. And that feeling thankfully never went away after that. I've obviously had my struggles, but from this experience, it taught me that the one thing more valuable than anything else is just you. So don't let yourself get in the way of that.