I was doing some cleaning this weekend and ran across a drawer with a few of my old calculators, including my very first one. It didn't do much. Today they have ones that are credit-card sized that do more. But I remember getting it when I was about 12 and in 6th or 7th grade and at that time in the late 70's a calculator this size was still sort of a gadget.
For some reason the first thing that bounced into my mind when I pulled it out and looked at it was my old hall at the time. I had almost forgotten how this little gadget had helped me get through the mind-numbing boredom of weekly meetings. Of course toys were forbidden at meetings, but this little "toy" could slip easily into a suit coat pocket. For some reason anything seemed fascinating when listening to talks. I could see what the square root of 2 was, of 3, of 5, etc. I could add up things and practice my math. I could try to spell things with the LED numbers. Basically ANYTHING was more interesting than those talks. Coincidentally(?) I went on to be very good at math and left the JWs.
What about all of you? Did you have any toys or diversions to get you through yet another dissertation on some modern-day such-and-such class?