Tortoise or the Hare? Actually...I'll take the goldfish

Forgot to mention that yesterday, my TA and I went to the pet shop to buy the class pet. I really wanted the tiny turtles that swim/live on rocks. I was planning on buying two little ones that stay little and put them in the class fish tank. The lady at the shop said they make good class pets, that or a rabbit. I nixed the rabbit, as I would be the one doing most of the work to care for it and then I would have to take it on the airplane home back to Canada for fear of its ears being cut off by the ravenous hair cutters in my class. So these little creatures are about to be scooped up for me to purchase, when the TA mentions IN PASSING, to make conversation, "so how big do they get?" The woman lets it roll off her tongue that they will get as big as a puppy and need a glass aquarium tank. Now, hold on a second. Did you say the size of a puppy? Did you say glass aquarium? Minutes before, I asked what I had to feed them and if it was under 10 pounds or I was feeding them table scraps and bits of paper. Does that sound like I want two puppy-sized reptiles chewing up my dolla dolla bills? No.
Next I think, well maybe they will die before they get that big, so I throw in, "how long do they live for?" Again, as casually as if I just asked for the time, she says, "oh they can live anywhere from thirty to sixty years."Thirty to sixty years...I won't even care for my own flesh and blood that long.

So I kindly said, dump those suckers back in the tank, and I strolled over to the goldfish. Two fish for five pounds, and three pound fish food. Ka-ching. So now we have Spot and Orangey (I tried to sway them to Goldie, but they cleverly pointed out to me that our fish were Orange). Easy on the wallet and easily replaceable when they die in two weeks.