Everyone has a picture-day nightmare. Whether you lost a tooth the day before photo day or if you got a ketchup stain on your favorite shirt just moments before taking your yearly photo, there’s something about the permanence of film photography that laid out all of your transgressions in a millisecond. Not to mention, this particular photo would live permanently in the attics of every schoolmate that you ever had… So you better make sure your bangs are fluffed perfectly at the opportune moment! 

While our haircuts were dorky and our shirts very striped, Gen X still found several ways to fumble their school photos just like we fumbled our homemade bike ramp construction. Without much parental guidance, latchkey kids were feral and made their own decisions–usually based on whatever the coolest kids on the block were doing. So blowdry that mop on your head and throw on your coke-bottle glasses, it’s picture day in 1979 all over again! 

Scroll onward for some enjoyably nostalgic Gen X memes that’ll have you LOLing all the way until picture day.