Unless specifically stated, these are someone else's words which I simply wanted to share all in one place. I agree with many of the sentiments reflected in these articles, but Kickin' it Old School has really become an accumulation of my feelings on this matter. Hopefully you are a regular reader and this has become evident. Some of the most telling issues are still yet to come, but for now I thought I would publish some of the best thoughts that others have written on the subject of being a "Child of the 80's." If you missed part 1, here is a link back to part 1 of my "Child of the 80's" tribute.

Here is part 2 of our tribute:

You might be a child of the 80's if...
o You knew what Willis was "talkin' 'bout."
o You know the profound meaning of "Wax on, Wax off."
o You can name at least half of the members of the elite "Brat Pack."
o You wanted to be on Star Search.
o You can remember what Michael Jackson looked like before his nose fell off. Or even when he had those freaky eyes in "Thriller" at the end of the video.
o You wore a banana clip or one of those slap on wrist bands at some point during your youth.
o You wore French rolls on the bottom of your splatter painted jeans.
o You had slouch socks, and puff painted your own shirt at least once.
o You owned a doll with 'Xavier Roberts' signed on its butt.
o You can remember watching Full House and Saved by the Bell for endless hours.
o You have seen at least 10 episodes of Fraggle Rock.
o You know that another name for a keyboard is a "Synthesizer."
o You'll always hold a special place in your heart for Back to the Future.
o You know where to go if you "wanna go where everybody knows your name."
o You thought Molly Ringwald was REALLY cool.
o You know what "psych" means.
o You fell victim to 80's fashion: big hair, crimped, combed over to the side, and you wore spandex pants.
o You wanted to be a Goonie ("Goonies never say die.")
o You knew "The Artist" when he was humbly called "Prince."
o You ever wore fluorescent-neon if you will-clothing...
o You could breakdance, or wished you could.
o You know who Max Headroom is.
o You know, by heart, the words to a Weird Al Yankovic song.
o You remember when ATARI was a state-of-the-art video gaming system.
o You owned any cassettes tapes.
o You were led to believe that in the year 2000 we'd all be living on the moon.
o You remember and/or own any of the Care Bear glass collection from Pizza Hut.
o Poltergeist totally freaked you out.
o You carried your lunch to school in a Gremlins or an E.T. lunchbox.
o You have ever pondered why Smurfette was the ONLY female smurf.
o You wanted to communicate with Synergy, or you wanted green hair like that lead singer of the Misfits. See Jem.
o You inserted the word "like" into, like, every sentence.
o You know what a Doozer is. See Fraggle Rock.
o You wore biker shorts underneath a short skirt and felt stylish.
o You ever had a Swatch Watch.
o You actually spent countless hours trying to perfect the care-bear stare.
o You had a crush on one of the Coreys (Haim or Feldman).
o You remember when Saturday Night Live was funny.
o You had Wonder Woman or Superman Underoos.
o You actually thought Dirty Dancing was a REALLY good movie.
o You have heard of "Garbage Pail Kids" (and perhaps still have a collection of them).
o Punks actually "shocked" people.
o You wanted to be The Hulk or Rainbow Brite for Halloween.
o You believed that "By the power of Greyskull, you HAD the power!"
o You thought that Transformers were more than meets the eye.
o You know what a "Whammy" is. ("No Whammy, no whammy, stop!")
o Partying "like it's 1999" seemed SO far away.
o 3 words: "Atari" "IntelliVision" and "Coleco". Sound familiar?
o You remember the days that hooking your computer into your TV wasn't an expensive option that required gadgets - it was the ONLY WAY to use your computer!
o You remember "Friday Night Videos" before the days of MTV.
o While in high school, you and all your friends discussed elaborate plans to get together again at the end of the century and play "1999" by Prince over and over again.
o You remember when music that was labeled "alternative" really was.
o You were shocked and horrified at the Challenger explosion (which you were probably watching in school at the time).
o You watched HR Puffenstuff as a child, but now that you're older, you really understand that it would have been much better had you known about drugs at the time.
o You've recently horrified yourself by using any one of the following phrases:
  -"When I was younger"
  -"When I was your age" 
  -"You know, back when..."
  -"Because I SAID so, that's why"
  -"What the HECK is this noise on the radio?"
  -"Just can't (fill in the blank) like I used to"
o You can't remember a time when "going out for coffee" DIDN'T involve 49,000 selections to choose from.
o Schoolhouse Rock played a HUGE part in how you actually learned the English language.
o You ever dressed to emulate a person you saw in either a Duran Duran, Madonna, or Cyndi Lauper video.
o At one point during your teenage years, you walked with a noticeable tilt to one side due to the number of plastic rings on that arm.
o "Celebration" by Kool & the Gang was one of the hot new songs when you first heard it at a school dance.
o The first time you ever kissed someone at a dance fell during "Crazy for You" by Madonna.
o There were at least three people in your school that voluntarily went by the names of "Skip" "Buffy" "Muffy" or "Dexter."
o You ever owned one of those embarrassing crimping irons.
o You used to hold in your head the thought that all those gold chains on Mr. T actually looked kinda cool and the thought that Mr. T made millions seemed rational to you at the time.
o You remember with pain the sad day when the Green Machine hit the streets and made your old Big Wheel quite obsolete.
o You've gotten this far on the list and aren't totally confused.
o The phrase "Where's the beef?" still doubles you over with laughter.
o You're starting to believe that maybe 35 isn't so old after all, and it's those people over 50 you have to look out for.
o Your hair, at some point in time in the 80's, became something which can only be described by the phrase "I was experimenting."
o You've ever shopped at a Banana Republic or Benetton, but not in the last five years, okay?
o You ever wanted to be gagged with a spoon.
o When someone mentions two consecutive days of the week, the Happy Days theme is stuck in your head for hours on end.
o You remember "Hey, let's be careful out there."
o You had a crush on Jon Bon Jovi, or knew someone who did.
o You thought eating Reese's Pieces would attract your own Alien.
o You have ever called 867-5309.
o You had a poster of Rob Lowe, Kirk Cameron, or Michael J. Fox on your wall.
o You held the top score on Pac-Man.
o You owned a t-shirt that said, "I shot J.R." or know someone who did.
o This rings a bell: "and my name is Charlie. They work for me."
o You HAD to have your MTV
o You know what a "burnout" is.
o You owned a Jordache anything, or you remember when Jordache jeans were cool.
o You remember when Madonna was just hitting the scene.
o You remember the original version of Windows: Macintosh.
o You thought Weird Science was a masterpiece.
o You remember any or all of the following: Echo & the Bunnymen, Cutting Crew, Scritti Politti, or Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark.
o Chevy Chase was really funny in those vacation movies.
o You actually know who Rick Springfield is
o You remember when film critics raved that no movie could ever possibly get better special effects than those in the movie TRON.
o You jammed to the Miami Vice theme and thought Jan Hammer was cool.
o Guys: You remember when a guy piercing his ear was radical to the max, but did it anyhow.
o You had a crush on one of the New Kids on the Block members.
o You ever uttered the word "Radical!"
o You wore jelly shoes and jelly bracelets
o You thought Ghostbusters was by far the coolest movie
o You remember watching shows like Punky Brewster, Webster, You Can't Do That On Television and Double Dare
o You rolled up the bottoms of your splatter painted jeans.
o You wore loafers with everything, and you put the laces in those little rolls.
o You had slouch socks, and puff painted your own shirt at least once.
o You yearned to be a member of The Babysitters Club, and tried to start a club of your own.
o You sat on your back porch, playing with your "My Little Pony" , "Rainbow Brite" , and "Strawberry Shortcake" dolls
o You ever wore fluorescent -neon colors of clothing....
o You can still sing the rap to "Fresh Prince of Belair".
o Pizza Hut was the coolest place to hang.
o You wanted to have an alien like Alf living in your house.
o You thought that Transformers were more than meets the eye.
o You remember when Deborah Gibson was "Debbie" Gibson.
o You simply love reading Kickin' it Old School (I added that one myself)
If you can identify with at least half of his list then you, my friend, are a "Child of the 80's."

I am not sure who deserves credit for this collection of memories, but it has definitely made its rounds as an email forward. I think some of the comments are better than others, but I left it as unedited as possible. I may publish my own list like this one day, but don't have enough finished to do so yet. My next few issues will continue publishing similar essays/articles that I find worthwhile, so keep checking back to read more.

That wraps up part 2 of this multi-part issue of Kickin' it Old School. Thanks for reading. If you are interested in reading more of my 80's related issues, please click there for a summary. You can also always click on the Archives in the upper left hand column (organized by month) or use the blogbar Search Box in the right hand column to find any other issues you may have missed. If you love Kickin' it, please consider subscribing and/or stopping by often. I also ask you to let other "Children of the 80's" know about us and those referrals are always appreciated. Peace and much love.

Check this out: If you are a regular reader, you know I often find amusement in unusual or ironic signs. I thought I would share another one which just seems so unnecessary...

Quote of the day: "The good ol' days weren't always good and tomorrow ain't as bad as it seems" -Billy Joel from the song "Keeping the Faith"

Download this: "Keeping the Faith" by Billy Joel