1. Successfully convincing your mum that you needed a pair of Adidas poppers, thus finally meaning you were accepted by your peers.
2. The first time you saw a Global Hypercolor T-shirt change colour.
3. Getting your first full-sized bike, often an inexplicably heavy Raleigh Max. And the first time you had an "incident" with the cross bar. Ouch.
4. Finally pulling off the perfect "round the world" with your yo-yo without hitting anyone (including yourself) in the face.
No one knew why they were popular. You didn't enjoy it. You weren't good at it. But then again kids are stupid.
5. The first time you really experienced loss.
6. When your school let you play on the BBC Micro (which was the only one they had, obviously).
7. When someone at school had a birthday party that involved going to see one of these classics.
And then you watched them religiously on VHS, along with films like Hook, The Goonies, and the first two Home Alones.
8. In 1993 Jurassic Park blew your tiny mind.
9. When you learnt the home phone numbers of every single one of your friends.
10. The first time you asked someone out on MSN Messenger and immediately regretted it.
11. When you realised what your biggest life goal was.
12. Or if you were more of a CBBC kid, perhaps it was to swim in a giant bowl of alphabet soup on Incredible Games.
13. When you first understood the phrase "scared shitless".
14. The moment you first attempted to comb curtains into your hair.
15. When, after years of having to tolerate four measly channels, a brand new free channel launched that was going to change TV forever.
16. The first time you nailed every word of Shaznay's rap.
17. The last time you ever ate an Opal Fruit.
18. Or a blue Smartie that was really blue. 💙
What happened to blue smarties? These are not blue, they're denim!
19. When your mum said she was throwing out your old kids books and you claimed you didn't care.
You did.
20. When the whole country tuned in to watch Gaby Roslin and Peter Snow bring us live coverage of the impending apocalypse the Millennium Bug would bring.
21. Although talking of live TV events, if you remember Ghostwatch from eight years earlier you probably haven't been the same since.
22. Pretty much every single time you sat down to watch TV on a Saturday night.
23. The moment the real Chris de Burgh joined fake Chris de Burgh during the final of Stars in their Eyes.
24. The first time you became an outlaw and downloaded music on Napster.
25. Which was swiftly shut down, so you had to find an alternative...
26. And then once Kazaa was gone, you probably switched to Limewire.
27. Buying your first MiniDisc player.
28. When you successfully "composed" your first ringtone.
29. When you found Nu Metal and spent the next three years in baggy jeans and hoodies.
30. Then just a few years later you found new rave, and spent the next few weeks (it didn't last long) wearing... whatever this is.
31. When you saw any of these bands play at your student union "before they were famous" and felt really smug.
32. The first time you attempted to rid a hangover by watching sickeningly rich and beautiful American kids moan about how tough their lives were.
33. Followed by watching sickeningly beautiful middle class British kids moan about how tough their lives on a desert island were.
And it worked every time.
34. When a polar bear came out of the jungle and you realised that you didn't have time for this shit.
35. In the pre-Netflix Britain of 2007, slowly improving internet speeds meant you could illegally binge-stream US TV shows like Heroes for the first time.
36. When the smoking ban came in and you suddenly didn't have to wash your jeans/hair every time you went to the pub.
37. The day someone sent you an invitation.
