The clock will hit 11:30 pm.

And Mimi will send me her daily goodnight greeting: “Niiiight. Going to bed.”

“Granny!” I would snort.

“Bat!” Mimi would retort back.

Yeah. That’s what I am. A bat. It’s probably not a coincidence that I’ve recently gotten hooked on True Blood, because my lifestyle right now…is very much like a vampire’s. Except vampires don’t go to school. Not the traditional ones anyway.

I have many excuses as to why my sleep schedule is so messed up. But my biggest excuse is the fact that I absolutely, desperately cannot miss my Thursday 8 a.m. Broadcast Newswriting class.

You see, I was late to it once. 4 minutes late. And I was barred from taking our weekly quiz. The next week was worse, because I wasn’t just late; I missed the whole class because I overslept. And I’m afraid my professor has a bad impression on me now.

“My Broadcast professor hates me!” I wailed to Mimi over Gchat.

“Dear,” Mimi replied. “You aren’t important enough for the professor to hate you.”

That may be true, but I am now officially P-A-R-A-N-O-I-D that I will ever miss another class again.

You see, I actually really like that class. And I really like the professor. And I also know that the class is freaking hard. The best grade a student can get is usually a B, and by the rate I’m going, I would be lucky to get a D.

You’re probably rolling your eyes right now. Idiot, you are thinking. Just set up an alarm clock. Duh.

But let me explain. My body just doesn’t work that way. Once it sleeps, it’s just…DEAD. I set up 2 alarm clocks every night. With 2 different tunes. And I hold my cell phone to my hand, next to my head, and set it so that it vibrates as it rings. And no, I still cannot wake up, because I dream so deeply each night. I’ll dream that I woke up, went to school, and then climbed back to bed. Clearly, my body and mind are trying to sabotage me.

Thus, I came up with a brilliant idea. Well, why don’t I just not sleep? Why not just stay up the whole night on Wednesday, so that I never have to be late or miss a class? Why, I can even go to class 15 minutes early!

I know, right? I’m such a genius.

Except. You can’t trick your body like that. You can try to make up for the lack of sleep by sleeping 13 hours the next day, but once a cycle is ruined, it becomes like a cascading stack of cards, affecting the next day, and the next day, and the next…

And that brings me to where I am now. Playing vampire. Baking strawberry-lemon scones at 2 am in the morning. Chirping along with the Wonder Girls even earlier than the birds do. Sliding into my coffin when the sun comes out.

Apparently, I better get used to this, because this is how most journalists live like. One journalism professor told me that she decided to teach because her previous journalism career didn’t allow her to have a family. If so, I can’t wait to start working, because at least I’ll get paid while playing vampire.

Don’t worry, I still have a social life. They keep me sane, actually. For example, I meet with Mimi every Tuesdays for lunch. Last week, we went to Trio House, a pan-Asian restaurant 5 minutes away from my school campus.
Trio House looks rather dingy and tacky from the outside, but inside, it actually had a pretty elegant setting.
I’m guessing the area is a dominantly Thai place, but decided that it better incorporate other Asian dishes into the menu too, just in case a confused customer comes in demanding Egg Drop soup, because Asian is Asian, right? What’s the difference?

At least, I vaguely remember that was what I was thinking as I sat at the restaurant that afternoon. Yes, I was feeling particularly snotty, because I had stayed up the whole night before. I was zoned out, and took a longer time to decide on what I wanted to order.

It probably didn’t  help that the waitress and the owner both took turns coming by asking what we wanted every 5 seconds, but at least that meant I never had to worry about my glass getting refilled:

We finally decided to start out with an appetizer:
 Buddha Dumplings: Steamed Chicken Dumplings with Green Curry Sauce
It wasn’t bad. I liked the green curry sauce. But the dumplings themselves weren’t that great, because dumplings just shouldn’t be filled with chicken. Dumplings should always have pork, in my opinion, unless they are fried. It just lacks the oomph and the flavor with bland chicken.

And can anybody suggest to me why they call it Buddha?

Anyway, for the main dish, I ordered the Shrimp Lard-Na:
Stir-fried Flat Rice Noodles, drenched in Gravy and served with Stir-Fried Shrimp
Basically, a wet version of Pad See Ew, which reminded me a lot of the Singaporean Hor fun.
Again, not bad, but not mind-blowing either. Just plain good. What I liked was the freshness of the vegetables, and the noodles were well-cooked, but the gravy could have been a tad bit thicker, and the flavors weren’t as intense and concentrated as I was used to from Singapore.

Mimi got the Wonton & BBQ Pork Noodle:
Shrimp Wontons with Egg Noodles, Bean Sprouts, BBQ Pork in Chicken Broth.

Maybe I was just in a blaaah mood that day, but this one was kind of mediocre, too. I liked the broth a lot—it was rich and savory—but the noodles were overcooked.
The BBQ pork, or char siew, was also rather bland, and sort of dry.
The worst were the wontons, which just fell flat in terms of texture and flavor.
I think the wrapper ruined it—it was limp and mushy. Or maybe maybe the cook assembled this dish too early. Wonton noodles and wontons need to be served immediately after the dish has been served, or the ingredients just loses its bouncy texture.

I can’t say the Trio House is horrible though. I would most likely return some day. I think this was the third or forth time Mimi visited this place, so it does serve pretty good food. I just don’t think I’ll return expecting authentic dishes, but just tasty Asian-style grub that is several notches above the other “Asian” eateries around my school campus.

By the way, thanks to everyone who voted for me on my Project Food Blog entry, and all my fellow contestants. Hopefully I would be able to step up to the next round, but if I don’t…well, one less thing to lose sleep over, I suppose.

Question of the Day: What was the most desperate measures you used to stay awake/ fall asleep?