Interviewing With the Starz! - Leanne Lawson-Stanley

This week's Interviewee is Leanne Lawson-Stanley. We were friends in high school. She blogs here. She also knows judo and once got into a psychic battle with Anthony Michael Hall so severe that half of the residents New Jersey forgot how to do math FOREVER!

Read on, readah...



Name: Leanne Alise Lawson-Stanley (if I were a boy, my name would have been Lilburn Andrew Lawson...no joke)

Hometown: 2 years in Newburg, OR. 5 years in Redding, CA. 7 years in Durham, CA. 17 years in Las Vegas. Vegas is my home.

Occupation: Sales & Marketing Director/Office Manager of Persyst Enterprises, Inc. (riveting stuff)

Favorite type of donut:
No nuts, no sprinkles, no jelly filling, no coconut.

Would you rather be mauled by a bear, stung to death by bees or eaten by a shark?
If the outcome is death in all cases, I would rather be stung by bees. Why? Being mauled by a bear would be incredibly painful, as they try to rip apart your soft parts first. Having my stomach torn open and my face ripped off just doesn’t seem like my cup of tea. And who knows how long you would survive while it was actually eating you. The bear is definitely last on my list.

The shark might not be too bad because I’ve heard that some people who are attacked by sharks don’t realize that they are missing a limb right away and I could hope that I’d bleed out quickly and lose consciousness before I drowned. But if I was pulled underneath the water and chomped on, I would have a problem with that. Drowning would not be my choice way to go.

My number one choice would be to die by bees! Again, this is just based on what I’ve heard but I would hope that I would be attacked by a large swarm (over 1000 bees) and that they would pump me full of enough venom that I pass out, stop breathing and then my heart would stop. I’ve been stung by a bee before and it hurt like crap but I’ve also been tattooed (which feels somewhat similar) and it is like being stung over and over again. Eventually, you become kind of numb from it. And I’m sure that my adrenaline would help out some. I might be swollen in my casket but at least my whole body would be there and I’d still have a face.

If your life were a song, what song would it be?
Oh my! I’ll have to think about that one [8 days later] Honestly, I haven’t been thinking about it much and this is the last question I am answering, so I will just put down the songs that popped into my head when I first read this question 8 days ago. What a Wonderful World, The Way I Am and Good Day Sunshine. What can I say? I’m a happy-go-lucky, positive chick.

If you could only watch one film for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Too hard to name one, so top five (in no particular order)
1) Groundhog Day (to laugh)
2) Lost in Translation (to see pretty scenery and listen to people talk)
3) Before Sunrise (same as above)
4) The Color Purple (to cry so hard I feel like puking)
5) Say Anything (to love Lloyd Dobler)

If you had your way, where would you live out the rest of your days and how?
If I had MY way, back and forth between Mexico and the mountains. How? Um, chillin’.

What would your like your tombstone read? (Don't worry, I'm not going to kill you)
I would like my tombstone to read: She lived by the Golden Rule.

The Three Stooges or the Marx Brothers?
I’ve seen more of the Three Stooges than the Marx Brothers. But I think the Marx Brothers were more clever (although it may be more clever to inflict mass amounts of pain on one another and recover quickly without a scratch ... hmmm).

What three TV shows can you not miss?
Lost, The Office, 30 Rock. (Honest answer, I’m not trying to kiss up, promise.)

You have excellent taste.

If you could erase one social problem with the flick of yr wrist, what would it be and why?
“Social problem” is a very broad statement. I think that many of the world’s problems would be solved if I flicked away playground bullying.

Who was your earliest remembered crush?
Fourth grade, Caleb Donahoo. He eventually became my boyfriend on and off for 4 years. We always said we would go to prom together. Even after I moved to Las Vegas, we kept in touch for a few years. We lost touch eventually and didn’t go to prom. I ran into him while I was cruising the streets of Chico during my bachelorette party and we hugged for a really long time. I always loved that boy.


What five things do you hope people know or think about you?
1) I love my son more than anything else on this planet.
2) I’m kind.
3) I’m funnier than anyone else they know.
4) I’ll do anything for my family.
5) I’m an excellent driver.


What three things are you terrified that people know or think about you?
1) I bite my nails somethin’ fierce…yuck.
2) I got rid of my cat (who I rescued from death) when I had my son because I couldn't stand the thought of him getting into the litter box one day. And he tracked kitty litter around the house and the thought of Cole crawling through it made my skin crawl. He was a really cool cat and I feel terrible about it. He was the only cat I ever had.
3) Ugly people make me uncomfortable.

The Stones or the Who?
Based on ... which band came first? The Stones. (I think?) Who had a greater influence on music? The Who. Who’s uglier? The Stones. Who I can name more songs from? The Who. It’s a tie.

If you could have any super power (flight, x-ray vision, the ability to talk to undersea creatures, etc.), what would it be and why?
I would like the power to travel through time. Although the ramifications of such a power would be astronomical, messing with the space-time continuum and all, I still think it would be pretty cool. I would like to be able to travel through time, so that I could see if it is indeed possible to travel into the future (to see if it is already written). I would also like to see if changing certain major outcomes in history would better or worsen our current present. Like stopping the assassination of Kennedy or killing Hitler before he got too powerful. I would probably always go back again and let things happen as they did because I think things do happen for a reason. But it would be fun to see the “what ifs”.

Who knows, if things were better, I might leave things alone. I would of course only want this power if I was alone (no family). Who knows where I would be or who I would be if I changed the past. Then again, I might not even be born and then I wouldn’t exist to have the power in the first place. Maybe this would be a terrible power to have ... oh well, it would be fun and I would definitely try not to step on any butterflies.

What is the deal with airline food?
It’s not really food. It is a gelatinous mass that is formed to mimic actual food and then painted with grill marks and such.

What is your greatest unrealized ambition?
I wish I knew how to play the guitar, piano or fiddle. I can play a mean bass clarinet.

Most embarrassing moment ever. Go!
The only one I can think of was when I was 11 and I was visiting my dad for the summer here in Las Vegas. I met a Cuban boy named Jose Ricon (he was one of my dad’s neighbors) and I fell in like with him (and he with me).

My older sister Sarah had a plan so that we could kiss each other (which would be the “first kiss” for both of us). It was nighttime and she put us on the side of the house. Sarah, her boyfriend, Jose’s brother, my step-sister and three other neighborhood kids were all waiting for us on the other side of the gate. Jose and I were being flirty and talking about how silly this whole thing was, even though we both really wanted to kiss each other.

Next thing I know ... Jose is leaning in and my DAD pops his head over the fence and asks, “Hey guys, what’s up?”. I was MORTIFIED!! Apparently, my dad came outside to see what we were doing and when he saw the crowd around the side gate, he knew something was up. Needless to say, I did not get my first kiss on the side of my house that night. My dad opened the gate and we both emerged, rosy cheeked and freaked. I did kiss him the next night though, sitting on the bumper of my uncle’s van, and it was magical. My dad is awesome. My kids better not kiss anybody until they are 20:)

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And that's this week's installment. If you still have a questionnaire, fill it out and get it in to me. Also, I still need photos from Christina, Ben and Allen, so get those to me. Give them to me or else. And if you want to be interviewed, let me know and I'll sent you some questions. Because I am a total professional, like that French guy in that movie with Gary Oldman and Natalie Portman.

Till next time, the balcony is closed.