You know you're a kid of the 80's when...

As a kid growing up in the 80's, there were lots of funky things that made you realise that it was a cool era to live through. From the unique music of that time to the films made and the memories of high school and finally finishing it! :) I spent my teen years during the 80's and for the best part of it, it was one filled with fond memories.

I read a fellow Voxer's list of 80's thoughts that would resonate with those that remembered them. So here's my take on it:

• You know who He-Man, She-Ra and Skeletor are (and have one of the action figures)
• You also know that Dolph Lundgren starred in the live action version of this cartoon series (and you actually liked it)
  
• You remember that Tiffany Amber Thiessen (who?) starred in 'Saved by the Bell' before she did 'Beverly Hills 90210'
• You know who MC Hammer was .... you can't touch this!  ;)
  
• You music collection consisted of lots of audio tape cassettes and 45rpm record singles (and you still listen to them)
  
• You thought Punky Brewster was cool
• You remember when Tom Hanks played a woman in the TV series 'Bosom Buddies'
  
• You wanted a dog like the one in the TV series 'The Littlest Hobo'
• You wished you had an Amiga computer but ended up with an Atari computer that had very little software support
  
• You remember when it was Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince and NOT just plain Will Smith!
• You remember collecting footy cards when they included a stick of gum and the gum was as hard as rock that you almost broke your tooth chewing it
  
• You got up early on Saturday mornings to watch the Thunderbirds and wished you were part of International Rescue
  
• You remember watching the Monkey TV series and wished you were Monkey and could fly on his little cloud and tell off Pigsy for being a lech
  
• You remember playing 'strings' with a friend to create various shapes (ie. you start with a 'circular' string and create one shape using both hand's fingers and then your friend has to use both their hand's fingers to convert to another shape and then you alternate)
• You remember playing 'elastics' with your friends (ie. super long rubber bands around two persons ankles and you'd have a third person jump in and out and on the elastic band and recite some rhyme like "England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Inside, Outside, Inside, On" whilst doing it)
  
• You hated going to Chinese school because you didn't know why you were there in the first place (if your parents were Chinese)
  
• You went to ESL (English as a Second Language) classes at school because the teachers thought you couldn't speak English (but you knew that you could speak perfect English)
  
• You remember when Michael Jackson was actually cool and wanted to walk around with white gloves, dark sunglasses and wear a glittering shirt
  
• You had a tape Sony Walkman that you always listened to and thought it was the best thing
• You loved that your Walkman also had a AM/FM radio whilst others didn't
  
• You remember when LA Gear tennis shoes were all the rage
• You know who Mr Miyagi and Daniel-son are
• Consequently you also know what the term 'wax on / wax off' means
• Your favourite record store was Brashs
  
• You know who Danger Mouse and Roger Ramjet are
• Playing computer console games meant owning an Atari 2600 and owning a whole bunch of games cartridges like Asteroids and Space Invaders.
  
• You know how to break-dance and wished you could do the moon walk better than Michael Jackson
• You remember that you could rollerskate for an afternoon school sport and rollerskate to school in the morning
  
• You know who Roxette is and can recite the lyrics to their first hit single 'The Look'
• You'd always buy the Smash Hits magazines so you could get the song lyrics of your favourite songs
• You thought Ferris Bueller was the best and you wanted pash his girlfriend (I did!)
  
• You wanted to have Ferris Bueller's synthesizer so that you could make up your own 'barf up a lung' sounds to use to call in sick to avoid school
  
• You remember that womens fashion involved 10 centimetre high shoulder pads and hair that defied gravity
• You actually owned a Milli Vanilli album and felt cheated when you found they didn't actually sing on the album (but you still kept the album and listen it to it even to this day)
• You remember when you had to learn dance at school and didn't want to hold the girl's hands because you didn't like girls since they had girl germs (different story now! :) )
• You remember that a portable stereo was a boom box that you carried on your shoulder
• You remember Bruce Willis best as the guy starring in Moonlighting with Cybill Shepherd and not in the Die Hard movies (Yippee Yi Yay Mutha f----!)
  
• You remember Pierce Brosnan best as the guy in Remington Steele with Stephanie Zimbalist and not in the James Bonds movies!
• You always wanted to drive a car like KITT from Knight Rider and thought David Hasselhoff was one cool hero (and not that drunk)
• You thought Mr T from the A-Team (B.A. Baracus) was one mean dude and contemplated having a mohawk and the gold chains to impress your friends
  
• A piece of folded paper and two hands could actually tell your fortune.
  
• You know who the Brat Pack was and can name at least 3 of them (uh... like Rob Lowe, Charlie Sheen, Emilio Estevez)
• You had a whole bunch of 'Game and Watches' from Nintendo before the Gameboy was ever around
• You wanted to own your own lightsaber and try to move an object with the Force (but sadly couldn't)
• You remember screaming at the sight of the New Kids on the Block on TV and begged your parents to buy the album for you
• You thought 'Fraggle Rock' was a cool show and could sing the opening theme song
  
• You wanted your own Care Bare and do the Care Bare stare
• You know who John Hughes is (hint: Sixteen Candles, Pretty in Pink, The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, etc)
• You wanted to own your own Cabbage Patch Doll (or know someone who has one)
  
• You wondered if the little girl was actually a robot in 'Small Wonder'
  
• You remember who Max Headroom was and drank lots of Coke because of it
• You wanted to be one of the Solid Gold dancers
• You thought Simon Townsend's Wonder World was the best show after school to watch and wrote letters to Woodrow (Simon's dog on the show)
  
• You know The Bangles was not a fashion accessory
• You still have your own 'Speak and Spell' at home and still use it
  
• You have a Pac-man portable game device that you played until you scored 9999
  
• Someone mentions Jennifer Beals and you don't say "Who?"
• You know it's not "comma, comma, comma" it's karma
  
• You thought Boy George and Marilyn were the same guy
• Every time you see a fountain you want to dance around it and yell "Fame!"
• You know who Loverboy is (hint: Mr McDreamy)
• You thought Molly Ringwald was the coolest chick around
• You liked Jimmy Barnes belting out 'Working Class Man' and wanted to yell out the lyrics like a wailing banshee
  
• You always wondered how Skippy could unlock the doors to save the day and wondered why Sonny was so annoying
  
• You think of Janet Jackson as "that girl who used to date Willis"
  
• You know who David Lee Roth is and the song 'California Girls'
• The Rubiks cube was the fad toy that everyone had and could solve (except me)
  
• Sometimes out of the blue you just got to shake your love
• Wa Wa Nee actually means something and 'Stimulation' wasn't a rude thing
• You remember watching 'That's Incredible!' and getting freaked out with all the ghost stories they showed
• You were into the soft metal bands like Bon Jovi, Whitesnake, and Europe but thought they were really heavy metal
• You know the show 'Growing Pains' and had posters of its main star Kirk Cameron on your bedroom wall
• You wanted to be a Goonie and find some more pirate treasure
  
• You remember trying to guess the episode of the Brady Bunch from the first scene
• You freaked out when you found that you now fall into the "26 - 50" age category on most questionnaires
• You know who sings 'Jessie's Girl' and sing it constantly in the shower
  
• You're pissed that you couldn't really participate in the 60's, pissed that you were a part of the 70's, think you wasted too much time doing stupid, meaningless things in the 80's, and still have no clue what the 90's are all about, and can't keep up with anything during the 2000's.
• Songs by Debbie Gibson and Tiffany still haunt you to this day
• You remember watching Dannii Minogue (before she became a pop star) in Johnny Young's Young Talent Time on the weekends and wished you could sing like her (or not)
  
• A mobile phone (or cell phone) was something used in Star Trek
• A mobile phone (or cell phone) was the size of a brick and you had to have your own carry bag for it

Some of these are specific to Aussie readers but generally most of them are recognisable! :P