The Heritage in Negeri Sembilan

Postcard from Malaysia shows "the Heritage in Negeri Sembilan." Negeri Sembilan, one of Malaysia's thirteen states, is located on the western coast of Peninsular Malaysia just south of Kuala Lumpur. Its heritage is believed to be heavily influenced by the Minangkabau people who were originally from West Sumatra in present-day Indonesia. Minangkabau features are visible on the card in traditional architecture and local artifacts.

On an unrelated note, news related to Malaysia has focused on the Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, missing since March 8, 2014. DigitalGlobe, an earth-imagery company, deployed its FirstLook service and directed two of its five satellites to obtained photos of more than 1,200 square miles of suspected crash area, and opened  its crowdsourcing platform, Tomnod, to the public for help in identifying any visible evidence that could help locate the missing Boeing 777 aircraft.

I was assigned this map, did you see anything? However, CNN recently reports that Malaysian plane may have flown long after last contact, which would place the plane outside the initial search area.

How the Grinch Stole Christmas!

US-2518598 to Germany

According to USA Today, UPS was overwhelmed by a large number of Christmas packages, many of which were delayed nation-wide and would not arrive until today.

On a different note, quite a few postcards I sent to Christmas, Florida to get their postmarks reached their destinations without any postmarks. Postcard US-2518598 to Germany was one of them. Tracking information shows the package that contained those cards was delivered to the Christmas, Florida on November 25, 2013. I had attached post-it notes on the cards to request cancellations. If the "Christmas, FL" postmarks were applied, they would have made great Maxi cards.

US-2521528 (left) and US-2518598 (right) with postmark request notes

Similarly, postcard US-2521528 to Belarus didn't get any postmarks for the stamps either on the front or on the back. However, it did score a Belarus postmark on arrival. Maybe the bar code on the bottom would tell where it had been and what happened.

US-2521528 to Belarus

A couple of cards from the same package did get a  machine cancellation.

So, for those who received my postcards without "Christmas" postmarks, I initially felt horrible because I promised something that was eventually not delivered in spite of extra money, time, and effort that I spent -- The Grinch literally stole the "Christmas" from the cards. The Grinch is a bitter, grouchy, cave-dwelling fictional character, created by Dr. Seuss, who stole Christmas presents and expected to cause bitterness and sorrows. But to his dismay, he still hear the singing joyous Christmas songs from people who lost presents. I was overwhelmed by recipients' comments that how much they like the cards, with or without the promised postmarks.

In the end, Christmas is more than presents; and a sincere greeting is more than a postmark. For those whose Christmas gifts are delayed, hope you are grateful when you eventually receive the package. Someone special is thinking of you, and the holidays are not over yet.