Elizabeth Taylor dropped in for Luke and Laura's wedding. Lady Diana Spencer joined the Royal Family. Nighttime soaps like Falcon Crest and Dynasty ruled the airwaves. Margaret Thatcher ruled the United Kingdom. Tom Cruise felt the need for speed. Gordon Gekko taught Wall Street whiz kids that greed was good. Material Girl Madonna made her musical debut.

When did all this take place?

We can only be talking about that terrific time period – the excellent eighties.

Here are twenty-one ways for you to verify that you belong to (or belong in) the 1980's.

1. You tried breakdancing. Now you're trying to figure out how you didn't break any bones doing it.

2. You know that Molly Ringwald was an original cast member on Facts of Life. (Now you're singing both of the show's theme songs.)

3. You remember paying by the minute for long distance telephone service and you can still hear the tune from the phone company commercial when they encouraged you to "reach out – reach out and touch someone."

4. You had at least one of the following: a Cabbage Patch Kid, My Little Buddy, a Rubik's Cube, or something with a Star Wars logo on it.

5. You first heard about the Human Genome Project in the science newsletter your teacher would pass out on Friday afternoons. You also remember how this was supposed to lead to the eradication of disease.

6. You were tuned in the exact moment that thousands of radio stations across the world played "We Are The World" at the exact same time. (Now, you're singing it!)

7. You call CD's records or albums and you still have a diamond needle record player. You also know what a Cassingle is. Bonus points if you still have one.

8. You know who Oliver North is and why he was in the news.

9. Someone on your street or neighborhood sent all the money he or she had to a later discredited televangelist.

10. You laughed at the Golden Girls on television and now you wonder when you and you're friends became the Golden Girls.

11. You remember when Reagan met Gorbachev in Reykjavik, Iceland for a summit.

12. You and your friends made fun of the "I've fallen and I can't get up" lady. (The fictional woman was named Mrs. Fletcher and the product was the LifeCall emergency service.)

13. You inserted "like" liberally and unnecessarily throughout your sentences. Like so, "Like, that was, like, the hardest test we ever had. So after class, I was all like asking the teacher and she was like it wouldn't have been hard if you had studied. Then I was like is that like wicked rude or what?"

14. You know there was only one way Dorothy on the Golden Girls could make Sophia behave. She simply said, "Shady Pines, Ma, Shady Pines."

15. You've actually tasted New Coke. Extra points if you wrote to Coca-Cola and insisted they bring back the original formula.

16. You remember a time before cable television and satellite channels.

17. Your parents were afraid you'd cut yourself putting on a snap bracelet.

18. You were inspired by Sandra Day O'Connor, the first female Supreme Court Judge.

19. Renting horror movie sequels about Jason Voorhees, Freddy Krueger, and Michael Myers took up a lot of your time.

20. You loved the opposite sketches and green slime on You Can't Do That On Television.

21. You played Atari, Intellivision, Sega, Nintendo, and Coleco until your hands went numb.

Would you like to read more 1980's information? Visit Matthew W Grant's 80's list and see how much you remember about your favorite decade.