November 28, 2013 Page 3 When you practice gratefulness, there is a sense of respect toward others. ~ Dalai Lama Photo Credit: Photo by Damian Peach Student Perspective What I’ll Soon Leave Behind By Glen Abalayan, Torrance High School Student In nine months, I’ll experience a moment many graduates before me have experienced: having to look back behind their own families knowing that they may not see them again for a long time. Walking away from the ones that have loved me these eighteen years will be the hardest decision of my life. Although I know there is still plenty of time between now and then, I can’t help but reflect on what I’ll soon leave behind. This realization hit me three months into my senior year, on Oct. 31 – Halloween. Ever since my family and I emigrated from the Philippines 11 years ago, we have always participated in the tradition. I fondly remember how proud I was seven years ago when I showed my parents a whole trash bag full of candy. Times have surely changed since then. Bags have now returned half-full, more houses leave their doors locked and I’m more reluctant to participate in our tradition. However, realizing that it would be my last time trick-or-treating with my family before college, it finally struck me – I’m growing up. It’s funny how badly I wanted to live on my own as a child, seeing how hard I now try to hold on to time’s unstoppable advance. I remember just a few years ago how much I looked forward to celebrating my first Thanksgiving away from family. I used to romanticize my first days as an independent man. But with each “first” I romanticized about, I noticed that I was experiencing a “last” of a more important entity. It’s true; you only really know what you have when it’s gone. The once loud sounds that would resonate around my home will soon be replaced by the lonely hum of my laptop. The once chaotic arguing between my sister and brother will not be heard thousands of miles away. The sight of my brother’s and sister’s faces every time I come home will be soon replaced by a mere picture sitting on a desk. The chicken adobo I grew tired of will soon be replaced by a pack of instant ramen. In the last few weeks of 2013, I will celebrate my final Thanksgiving and Christmas as a child. After so many childish birthday parties, fishing trips, basketball games and road trips, I’m finally approaching my last days of my youth. Oh, how I wish it could last a little bit longer. I guess this is really what growing up is all about – letting go. For 18 years, my parents have molded me into a man, ready to take on whatever life throws at him. But the act of letting go of the people and experiences that have shaped me, this child is still not ready to do. For two more times this year, my entire family will be together. For two more times, all nine of us will be happy under the same roof. That’s something to be thankful for. • Hawthorne Happenings News for the ‘City of Good Neighbors’ From City Clerk Norb Huber What am I thankful for? At Thanksgiving, we pause for a moment to think of all the things God has blessed us with. Usually, we think of all the material blessings He has given to us. Yes, I am thankful for all of these monetary gifts that I see around me. These blessings make my life content. More than all these, I am thankful for the faith that God has given me. That faith gives me the assurance and peace I need to live this life. Even when things don’t go the way I want them to, I have peace knowing that God is in charge. May you and your family have a “peaceful” Thanksgiving. Thank God for that peace. Hawthorne’s Top 10 “You Know it’s Almost Christmas when. . .” #10. The local election is over and all political signs are down. #9. Home Depot has its Christmas tree lot taking up all the parking spaces. #8. There are NO parking places to be found at Costco. #7. The temperature in my house falls below 64 degrees in the morning and my furnace kicks on. #6. UPS and FedEx trucks are still delivering packages at 9 p.m. #5. My wife mentions that she is “going shopping” and disappears all Saturday afternoon. #4. KOST 103.5 has been playing Christmas music for a month already. #3. People start lining up outside of Best Buy on Thanksgiving for a Black Friday special. #2. Traffic on the southbound side of Hawthorne Blvd. is jammed with people traveling to the malls in Redondo Beach and Torrance. #1. Santa arrives at every mall and anywhere businesses want the little kids to come and have their parents spend money on expensive gifts. Santa Arrives in Hawthorne The Hawthorne Historical Society will host a tree lighting and holiday celebration on Saturday, Dec. 7 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. This will be the time that Santa arrives in Hawthorne. Children of all ages are invited down to the Civic Center to enjoy the music, food and activities that evening. Mark your calendars. Holiday Home Decorating Contest The Hawthorne Recreation and Community Services Department announces their annual holiday home-decorating contest that has an entry deadline of Dec. 17. If you like to decorate your home’s exterior for Christmas, then plan to enter the contest. Entry forms are available at the Memorial Center or at City Hall. There will be awards given to first, second and third place winners. Judging will take place on Dec. 19 from 6 to 9 p.m. Comments or Questions Please contact norbhuber gmail.com or 310-292-6714. • Classifieds The deadline for Classified Ad submission and payment is Noon on Tuesday to appear in Thursday’s paper. Advertisements must be submitted in writing by mail, fax or email. You may pay by cash, check, or credit card (Visa or M/C over the phone). Errors: Please check your advertisements immediately. Any corrections and/or changes in an ad must be requested prior to the following Tuesday deadline in order to receive a credit. A credit will be issued for only the first time the error appears. Multiple runs will only be credited for the first time the error appears. No credit will be issued for an amount greater than the cost of the advertisement. Beware: Employment offers that suggest guaranteed out-of-state or overseas positions may be deceptive or unethical in nature. If you have any doubts about the nature of a company, contact the local office of the Better Business Bureau, (213) 251-9696. Herald Publications does not guarantee that the advertiser’s claims are true nor does it take responsibility for those claims. House for Rent 1BD/1BA. Cozy Cottage house for rent, w/beamed ceilings, updated kitchen cabinets, hard wood floors in living room, small yard and patio, laundry facility, includes water and power. $1,500/mo. No pets/No smoker. Call 310 335-6099 or 310 343-8654. Lost and Found Ladies Ring found in parking lot 502 Main Street. For more information call Suzy Ray (310) 322-8911. Pet Sitting Local HS student available for pet sitting, dog walking. Call Eleanor 310-709-3707. Tutoring Services Former teacher available for math tutoring. www.caseys.org Call Terry @ (310) 322-2223. $25/hr. Employment Display Ad Sales Position. We need an experienced Display Ad Salesperson for Herald Publications. Territories include Torrance, El Segundo and Hawthorne. Full or part-time positions are available. 20% commission on all sales. If interested please email your resume to management@heraldpublications. com. No phone calls please. Garage Sale 220 Sierra St. Sat. 11/30 & Sun 12/1, 8am-6pm. St. Anthony Church Xmas Bazaar. Jewelry, gifts, tools, , antiques, etc. We are also selling tables 20/day. Call Marie (310) 322-9158 Garage Sale Sat 11/30 9-1: clothes, books, furniture, fridge, tools, garage items. 711 W. Acacia. Let’s make a deal! Apartment For Rent 1BD/1BA. Large Apt. In ES quiet gated building. W/swimming pool, laundry facility, pond w/ water fall $1,275/mo. No pets. Call Mike at (310) 322-7166. Apartment For Rent 1BD/1BA. Pets OK! Downstairs unit., lg kitchen, fireplace, 1 car garage, w/d in unit, ALL UTILITIES PAID, W. of Main. $1,900/mo. Avail. 12/13/13 (310) 880-8420 Apartment For Rent Private room, kitchen. Living room facilities for rent. 346 Virginia, El Segundo. $600/mo. Utilities paid. Please call (310) 365-1481, (310) 641-2148 or (424) 244-6432. Care Giver Services Helper/Asst./Aide Experienced with Male/Female clients. Home, Yard & Pet Services. Local Resident; Part- Time; Licensed Driver; References. Michael Morrissey (310) 902-4530. To appear in next week’s paper, submit your Classifed Ad by Noon on Tuesday. Follow Us on Twitter @heraldpub Looking Up Comet ISON: Target for Thanksgiving Roasting, Possible Views in December By Bob Eklund average Sun-Earth distance is roughly 93 A comet that has caused a lot of excitement million miles.) is racing toward a close encounter with the ISON probably came from the Oort Cloud, Sun on Thanksgiving Day. Comet ISON will a vast shell of icy bodies that extends out to pass about 700,000 miles above the Sun’s a distance of approximately one light-year surface before whipping around and heading from the Sun—one-fourth of the distance to back toward deep space—if it survives. If the nearest star, Alpha Centauri, which is 4 it does, the comet might be visible to the ¼ light-years away. The Oort Cloud bodies unaided eye before dawn for a few weeks are leftover “building blocks” from the birth after the encounter. For a high-resolution illustration showing how to spot Comet ISON in early December, visit StarDate Magazine’s Media Center: http://stardate.org/mediacenter. While you’re there, you can also sign up to receive notices of upcoming sky-watching events. An automated asteroid-hunting telescope, part of the International Scientific Optical Network (ISON) in Russia, discovered Comet C/2012 S1 (ISON) on Sept. 21, 2012. Some comet-watchers quickly suggested that it could become as bright as a full moon late this year. Continued observations, however, show that it’s not brightening as much as of the solar system, so they contain the same those early optimistic projections indicated. mixture of materials that gave birth to Earth The comet will get brighter as it approaches and the other planets. Astronomers believe the Sun, but more difficult to see through this is probably ISON’s first-ever trip to the the Sun’s glare. It will shine at its brightest Sun’s vicinity. as it passes the Sun, although it will be too After a remarkable flare-up in brightness close to the Sun at that time to view safely. on Nov. 14, comet ISON became barely Like all comets, ISON is a big ball of frozen visible to the naked eye as it passed Earth gases and water mixed with rocks and dust. on its journey toward the Sun. But the This ball, the comet’s nucleus, appears to comet’s future is far from certain. NASA be about three miles wide—large, as comets lists three possible options for what might go. As ISON approaches the Sun, the heat happen: (1) the comet spontaneously breaks vaporizes some of the comet’s icy surface. up sometime before Thanksgiving; (2) it is That surrounds it with a cloud of gas and destroyed as it roasts in the Sun’s heat on dust that can span a hundred thousand miles Thanksgiving Day; or (3) it makes it away or more. The Sun’s radiation pressure pushes from the Sun with a large tail of lost dust some of this material outward, away from behind it. Spontaneous breakups are quite the Sun, to form a glowing tail. rare—they happen to less than one percent As ISON moves far enough from the Sun of comets—so one of the latter two options for us to see it in morning twilight in early will likely come to pass over the next several December, it should be a pretty sight. ISON weeks. Until then, expect more incredible will pass closest to Earth on Dec. 26, at a photos of ISON to start surfacing—and keep distance of about 40 million miles. (The looking up! •
Lawndale 11_28_13
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