sfo to hk to sh to broke

omfg. i keep saying that. over and over. i am lit from within, and by that i mean raging. mad. angry. flummoxed. frustrated. ridiculous!

communication style in chinese families goes like this: (uncle to cousin-in-law to me) hey, i told your mom about the price of the plane ticket, so it's already booked, ok?

and i get the itinerary in my inbox and it's about 3x as much as i want to or can pay. !)!(@#$^%&%(#)#! WTF? wait, WHY? how does this happen? i call my mom and ask her if they talked to her about a plane ticket. she says, yeah, they mentioned something about 3000 HKD. wait, so why am i now booked on probably the most expensive ticket from hong kong to shanghai? it's a 2 hour flight! it's costing me nearly as much as my flight from san francisco to hong kong! how does this happen?

oh, if only the answer was simple. it has to do with my mom's birth positioning (oldest of seven), my language barrier, my black sheep uncle who does whatever the hell, my cousins' deference to him for whatever reason, and so on. for the love of friggin GOD. now i'm paying $456 USD for a 2-hour flight. and without any consent on my part. and without any money on my part. and if i complain, everyone will get offended. why do i do this to myself? i should know better. i'm just going to blame myself because there's no one else here. my mom told me on the phone, "well this is your situation so you deal with it. i'm hanging up now. bye" i had thanked her sarcastically for her help navigating her crazyass family and it didn't faze her a bit. "you're welcome. ok bye." THIS is why i never tell her anything. THIS is why i do things myself. THIS is why i moved halfway around the world. my people is crazy! crazy crazy crazy. and now i'm $456 in the hole. what the hell.

anyone want to hire me?