Mass comm

So, yesterday I went to the UiTM Dungun for the interview for mass communication. It was my first experience ever. I'm not that nervous, I think lagi nervous masa test JPJ (obviously because I failed my JPJ test for two freaking times.....) I was having a crisis on what to wear for the interview that I had to ask for my sister's opinion a day before the interview. In the end, I decided to wear my plain dusty pink baju kurung with a printed square scarf. The next morning, I was having a handbag crisis. It took me quite a while to decide on which handbag I was gonna pair with my outfit. And in the end, I decided to go for my brown long strap handbag and I paired it with my brown flat shoes. I don't know, I just love pairing my handbags with my shoes.

The interview consisted of writing test and the interview itself. For the writing test, there were 3 questions and I had to write an essay (200 words) by combining the 3 questions in 30 minutes. So, let's move on onto the questions that were asked!

What is mass communication?
Mass communication can have many depictions to it but I personally believe that mass communication is a broad line of communication, i.e; journalism (in the form of news), advertising (to market/sell), public relations (companies/people) and broadcasting (tv/radio). They are all different ways of communicating to the mass public. It just depends on HOW you send the message across.

Why do you choose mass communication?
I didn't know what I wanted to when I finished high school but one thing I knew was that I was horrendous in science subjects. So, I decided to apply for mass communication because I knew I could do well in it. I love speaking and writing, so I guess it won't be a problem to me. Plus, mass communication will teach me a lot about the current changes in society and media. I definitely won't regret my decision.

What contribution will you do when involve in mass communication?
I love blogging and photography. I literally write about every single that happens around me, even the littlest things. I will include the pictures that I took along with my writing. I believe that I have talent in both. One day, I want to send message to the public through pictures in blog. Interesting and not too formal will attract people to read.

After that, I had to wait for my turn for the interview. An hour later....

Me/Interviewer
"Assalamualaikum."
"Waalaikummussalam. So, Qaisara Afiqah.. Okay, you can start by telling us about yourself and your opinion on the challenges faced by Muslims nowadays."
"My full name is Qaisara Afiqah binti Romali. I am 17 years old by age and 18 years old by year since my birthday is on 5th of November. I am from Kuala Terengganu. Talking about myself, I love writing. I have a blog and I literally write about every single thing that happens around me. Other than that, I love reading as much as I love writing. I always make sure to bring a book with me whenever I go out just in case I have to wait for someone or stuck in traffic. I guess that's pretty much about me. I'm sorry, what's the second question about the Muslims?"
"Okay, what are the challenges faced by the Muslims nowadays?
"Well, one of the challenges that is faced by the Muslims nowadays is that most of the people especially from other religions always put the blame on Islam rather that the Muslims whenever we make mistakes. They always blame it on the religion. I think that's it." (I know that the answer I gave him isn't that accurate but that's the only thing that came across my mind at that moment).
"Alright, good. So, I tengok result you ni kita boleh kata katogeri cemerlang. *He started to count the tiny A's on my spm slip.* Jarang I jumpa result macam ni apply for mass comm. Mass comm ni pilihan ke berapa on your upu online form?"
"I get that a lot. Well, it's my first choice."
"Your first choice?! Well, okay. You ada apply course lain untuk UiTM?"
"Yes, foundation in tesl."
"Okay, other than that? Apa lagi yang you apply?'
"Diploma in English (UPSI), foundation in tesl (UNISZA). Well, I don't remember the exact universities that I applied for the other options but mostly the courses are foundation in tesl and diploma in English."
"Okay, so you are more into the field of language especially English. Kenapa tiba-tiba mass comm? I am quite surprised that it's the first choice on your upu online form."
"As you can see, I was horrendous in science subjects. Writing is my passion. I know that I've said this a lot but I love writing. I want to pursue my studies in journalism."
"Very good, so you dah ada plan for your future. I bagi you pilihan untuk pilih either mass comm or tesl. Which one would you choose?"
"Definitely mass comm."
"Okay. I tengok result you ni since pmr lagi cemerlang Sejarah. Spm pun cemerlang Sejarah, so I nak tanya soalan pasal Sejarah la sikit. Boleh?"
"Haha sure."
"Apakah perbezaan antara Suruhanjaya Reid dengan Suruhanjaya Cobbold?"
"Suruhanjaya Reid merangka perlembagaan for Persekutuan Tanah Melayu."
"Okay, very good. Suruhanjaya Cobbold?"
"Suruhanjaya Cobbold meninjau pandangan rakyat Sabah and Sarawak."
"Okay, good. You asal mana?"
"Kuala Terengganu."
"Dulu you sekolah mana?"
"SS, SMK Sultan Sulaiman."
"Sultan Sulaiman... Sekolah famous ni. Semua orang kenal sekolah ni. Apa yang I tahu, sultan Terengganu study dekat Sultan Sulaiman kan? So, I nak tanya nama penuh sultan Terengganu.
"Well..... Sultan Mizan?"
"Sultan Mizan?"
"Sultan Mizan.... Zainal Abidin?"
"Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin Ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Mahmud Al-Muktafi Billah Shah. I orang Selangor pun ingat ni."
"So panjang.... Okay, Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin Ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Mahmud Al-Muktafi Billah Shah."
"Lagi I nak tanya, nama Perdana Menteri kedua dan kelima?"
"The second one is Tunku Abdul Razak and the fifth one is Tun Mahathir, eh noooo. It's Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badwi."
"Haha okay, good. So, you memang tinggal dekat Terengganu kan? Mass comm ni cuma ada dekat Uitm Melaka, you ada masalah ke? Terengganu and Melaka jauh tu."
"No, I dah bincang with my parents about this earlier. So, I don't think of it as a problem."
"You memang dah tahu a lot la pasal mass comm ni, I can see that you memang minat mass comm. So, it's okay la kalau kita hantar you dekat Melaka?"
"Yes, no problem."
"Parents you kerja apa?"
"My dad used to work with Telekom Malaysia Berhad, now dah pencen while my mum is a full time housewife."
"You ada berapa adik beradik?"
"Six including me."
"And you anak yang ke?"
"I am the youngest."
"Abang kakak you still belajar or kerja?"
"Semua dah kerja."
"Ada tak abang or kakak you yang belajar di Uitm sebelum ni?"
"Yes, one of my sisters and brothers."
"Course apa?"
"Engineering."
"Okay, so kakak and abang you ambil engineering and adik dia akan ambil mass comm. Diaorang tak kisah?"
"No, sebab bidang ni yang I minat."
"So, I akan bagi you pursue your studies in mass comm tapi you have to promise me to not hampakan harapan your parents, okay?"
"I promise."
"Okay, I think that's all. You ada apa-apa soalan nak tanya?"
"I heard that course mass comm ni akan ada di Puncak Perdana? Is it true or?"
"Tahun you ni still dekat Uitm Lendu. Tapi kalau I la kan diberi pilihan antara Melaka and Selangor, I akan pilih Melaka sebab dia punya culture shock tu kurang. Kalau dekat Selangor culture shock dia tu lain, lagi teruk. Ada apa-apa lagi soalan?"
"No, that's all."
"Okay, thank you for coming :-)"

I think the interview was supposed to be 100% in English but as you read, that's what the interviewer did ask me. It's 50% in English and 50% in Malay, I guess? But I tried my best to answer in English because who knows I might get extra points for that. I guess that's it for the interview. Alhamdulillah, it went really well as it was my first experience ever. Last but definitely not least, I apologize for not updating my blog since ages and this entry I sekali tengok dah macam kereta api panjangnya. Sorry! Thank you for reading :-)

How to: fried ice cream

A few days back, I went to the store to buy the Nestle fried ice cream but I couldn't seem to find it. Then, I thought why don't I just make myself one? So, I decided to grab the ingredients to the counter and paid them (obviously). 

All you need is bread (depending how many fried ice cream you want), a tub of ice cream (again, depending on what flavor you love) and a glass. Make sure that the glass you use has a sharp edge to make it easier to separate the outer part of the bread.

You will need two pieces of bread to make one fried ice cream.

Place a scoop of ice cream in the center of the slice of bread. Here's an advice, do not put too many scoops of ice cream or else you will end up eating it without being fried. Keep on reading, I will include the picture down below.

Place the other slice of bread on the top to cover the ice cream. Then, use a glass and press it on the bread hardly until the outer part of the bread (outside the glass) is separated. Do not use the disposable containers. I used that at first and it broke when I pressed it... You have to immediately refrigerate the ice cream sandwich before beginning on the next one.  

You can either throw this away or make a bread pudding. Or anything you would love to. I decided to make the bread pudding with this. I will include the recipe in my next post. Eh since when la my blog became a recipes blog?!

Just realized that this picture is focusing my hand instead of the ice cream sandwich but that is beside the point. I ended up eating 3 of the ice cream sandwiches. I put too many scoops of ice cream because I'm greedy like that and it won't pinch shut.

Freeze the fried ice cream for a few hours before deep frying it. I prefer to leave it overnight in freezer to set. To fry, you will need to heat up oil in pan  until hot. Then, fry each side for about 15 seconds and flip. You will notice the color will change to golden brown. When both sides are nice and golden brown, quickly drain dry the fried ice cream on kitchen towels. 

And there you have it, super easy and super delicious deep fried ice cream!! It is really simple to make. I guarantee you will forget about whatever diet you were on.

I can drive but...

I haven't written anything here since forever. The last time I did was last year, so this is gonna be my first entry of 2014. I know for a fact that it's almost February already but let me talk a little bit about 2013. 2013 was definitely a different year compared to my past teenage years. Calmer. And in some way, I learned myself. I am forever grateful. I don't really have goals or new year resolutions if you ask me. Talk less, do more and that's it. On a different note, I still haven't got my driving license. My jpj test is supposed to be on 9th of February but it's postponed to 16th of February because of Chinese New Year. Truth be told, I feel like giving up driving manual. I don't even know how am I supposed to apply the clutch, god. Sure, I can drive but...

I almost hit one of the teachers at my driving school. 
I almost hit a car when I was doing a u-turn. 
I almost hit a road sign.
I almost hit the back of the car in front of me while waiting for my turn to parallel/reverse park.
I hit the tiang when I was doing the parallel/reverse park but it's clearly wasn't my fault. Well, maybe it was. This happened during the QTI and everyone laughed at me :') I pretended to laugh as well even though deep down inside, I felt like turning off the engine and got out of the car immediately and went to the toilet or maybe home. The car that I usually use has these stickers at the front and back doors which really help to parallel/reverse park. During the QTI, the car I used didn't have the stickers. Once I got into the car and looked at the doors, I was like, "Okay now tell me how am I supposed to parallel/reverse park....." That's pretty much explains why I ended up hitting the tiang but on a brighter note, I have passed the QTI!
Last but definitely not least, just so you know that I can't seem to pull the handbrake using one hand. I have to use both of my hands. This ain't funny.

Let's just say if you see this girl driving in the middle of the road, please keep a safe distance. Don't say I didn't warn you!!!

Fast forward 10 years

"If Yuna can be successful, has her own apartment in LA and surrounded with great musicians then don't tell me it's hard to believe in your dreams." - Miyyo Azman

One of the things that scares me more than anything else is not having my future go the way I wanted. I always picture myself being successful, in a maxi dress because that's what I prefer with maybe a pair of high heels or maybe just a pair of flats because I can't stand wearing high heels, working at somewhere in the city of New York, maybe. I picture myself being a journalist because that's what I want to be. I picture to have an apartment, not too big not too small. I will have the pictures of the people I love on the white brick walls just like what I have in my room right now. I want to be successful, but I want it to be simple.  I want to be able to go in Céline and know I am able to afford a 5000 dollar bag that I adore since forever. I want to be able to do the things I love, writing and reading, no matter how busy I am. I want to have a cat, or maybe two because I don't want my other cat to be lonely whenever I go to work. I want them to look exactly like the cats I have right now which is one of them has black and white fur while the other one has white fur combined with orange and black fur so that they will bring good memories. I want it to be simple. I want to make good hot green tea for those nights I end up being awake at 3 in the morning because I had a bad dream. I want to be able to make toast because to be honest, I can't even make toast without burning it. It always ends up looking like charcoal.

I want it to be simple.

Happiness

"We all have bad days, but one thing is true; no cloud is so dark that the sun can't shine through." - Miranda Kerr

Happiness in my opinion isn't something you will be able to achieve on a constant state, happiness is when you are able to feel content being who you are with what you have, but that doesn't mean when there is happiness, there is no sadness. I hate that people keep thinking that in order to be happy, you have to find your significant other. For you to be happy, you have to first find happiness in yourself so when something or someone else comes along to add up that happiness and when it doesn't work out, you know you're capable of being happy on your own. Stop relying on other people for your happiness. If you can't find happiness within yourself, then how do you expect another person or object will be able to give you happiness? 

Wake up, it's almost 2014. Start being grateful for what you have, don't give me this "I've been through a lot" bullshit. Being grateful is just something that's really important quality. No matter who you are or no matter what position you are in, there's always something to be grateful for and there's always challenges that you will also might have in a daily basis. We are all human. We all have challenges.We all have good days and we all have challenging days. It's just about being grateful for what you have and who you are. Stop comparing yourself to other people. Trust me, if you stop comparing yourself to other people, you will be at a happier place. Be inspired but don't compare. Be positive or if you can't, just act like you're a positive person. You'll be one eventually.

When people ask me, why do you even waste your time writing and blogging?

My answer is simple.

It makes me happy. It brings sense. 

Because whenever someone tells me they can relate to the things I write, nothing feels more amazing than this. It means a lot. Be it if I don't make a million bucks out of what I do.