Gen Y kid, here...and your narrative brought back shades of my own childhood. I've started to write about it in my four-part series, "Confessions of a Gen Y Kid" -- with Parts One & Two here:

https://medium.com/resonates/confessions-of-a-gen-y-kid-our-education-1cc5539f0b0f

and

https://medium.com/resonates/confessions-of-a-gen-y-kid-pop-culture-ae84312c803b

As a "Xennial" (older Millennial), I still look up to you Xers as my big bros and big sisters.