Personally I would go for the following method that I came up with when thinking up a new drama for British TV:
As a guy, I would have a female vampire girlfriend who turns me into a vampire shortly after the relationship begins... (this would be the end of the first episode if anyone is interested, which they aren't, and don't worry, the show would be about more than that [i.e. proper storyline and plot and more concrete character development, etc, this is just the end of episode 1...]). I'm guessing no-one cares too much about that though, however this would mean I'm not dead (YAY) and get to live forever (YAY) killing other people to survive (YYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYY!!!!!). lol