Itching to Get Away This is my inaugural post. After encouragement from my webfriends S and C, I have decided to take the plunge and start blogging. I hope that this augurs well both for my personal life and my professional life.

In San Francisco, right next to Chinatown, there is a well-known bar/cafe called Vesuvio. Every time I walk by there, I notice the colorful sign above the door that reads "We are itching to get away from Portland, Oregon." Well, San Francisco is one of the coolest places on this planet. So I definitely am not itching to get away from here. But there is a place that I am itching to get to–Hong Kong. If all goes according to plan, I will be studying Cantonese there from May to August next year.

Did a couple of short hikes on the weekend. Saturday (June 11), I hiked the Lafayette Ridge Trail and Briones Ridge Trail. This is one of the most peaceful, scenic hikes in the East Bay with lots of beautiful oaks and other trees and great ridgetop views. Enjoyed a post-hike dinner of 清 蒸 塘 虱 (ching1 jing1 tong4 sat1/steamed catfish) and 腐 乳 通 菜 (fu6 yu5 tung1 choi3/ong choy with bean curd). Sunday (June 12), I went to 飲 茶 (yam3 cha4) at Peony Restaurant 牡 丹 閣 in Oakland. Their 馬 拉 糕 (ma2 laai1 gou1), 蝦 餃 (ha1 gaau2), 曉 賣 (siu1 maai2) and 咖 哩 魷 魚 (ga3 lei1 yau4 yu2) are as good as any I've tasted. Finished up the day with a short hike at Diablo Foothills Regional Park. The buckeyes, with their dark green foliage and white flowers, were in full bloom. The rock formations as usual were spectacular. Right at the end of the hike, I saw an unexpected sight--a beautiful buck deer with velvet-covered antlers (two prongs). It looked like a reindeer and made me think of C.  ¶ 10:00 PM