Hi, I'm Ross Anthony, a freelance Video Producer
and Writer/Illustrator based in Los Angeles. I've worked in 32 countries across four continents. One year, I backpacked solo around the globe. Sketchbooks, journals, and cameras weighed down my backpack as travel, culture, and citizens of Earth pried open my cramped world view to the bright light of day. Click here for more bio, or scroll for my once-in-a-while blog below.
Dream->Reality RA-April 2025
Bowie's "Space Oddity" plays. Earbuds in, window open, mind floating out into space. Snap! Dream life and real life connect!
Decades ago, I started a dream journal. And from there, lucid dreaming. It's a beautiful thing to enjoy that awareness - kind of like breathing underwater. Conscious thought #1: "I am dreaming. Isn't this cool?" Conscious thought #2: "Since, I am dreaming, I can do anything." Act fast, this whole magical moment is delicate - like one of those huge wobbly bean-shaped bubbles - a shimmering weightless miracle ready to pop into moist soapy reality. Time for thought is over. I bend my knees, cock my neck, and spring into flight. This is a dream and I can do anything. So I fly! I float like that bubble, far into the night sky. Watch the streetlights twinkle like stars as I hover ever nearer the blue curve of the Earth.
It seems so simple now, but, here's the connection with real life... "I am living real life - and I can do anything."
Of course, real life has real consequences. So, unlike dreams, these consequences must be considered. Still, at how many points in your daily life do you say to yourself, "...at this moment - I can do anything"?
Yes, real life has consequences and the limits of physics, but isn't it an oddity that we have become accustomed to needlessly (even thoughtlessly) limiting our real life possibilities? Why? To avoid loss, failure, discomfort? We are almost limitless potential, and yet, everyday we bound ourselves tighter than the pull of gravity.
At this very moment: you, me, and all creatures of Earth, have a set of possible actions (yes, while limited by consequence and physics) many times larger (10x, 100x, 1000x times larger) than we allow ourselves to consider. Let's stop that internal limiting and jump into our next moves. Let's float like shimmering bubbles in these moments that keep popping away!
Planet Earth is Blue - and there is something we can do!
Sugar Strike RA-03/14/24
I am one week sugar sober! Well, not entirely, I allow myself a teaspoon of sugar (agave) in my one daily cup of coffee, in addition to whatever sugar is already in regular meals and the fruit I snack on. That said, my sweet tooth has been curbed! Several years ago, I'd gotten myself down to 40 grams of added sugar a day (roughly the amount in a can of soda). But, I wanted to do better than that, so I put 20 grams of pure white sugar in a vial (see photo) to keep on the kitchen table and remind me exactly what I'm subjecting my body to. Most Americans consume way more than 40 grams of added sugar per day (according to CDC, 70grams). My tastebuds love me some chocolate chip cookies, but the thought of 2 vials of that white stuff in my body a day started to gross me out. Despite cutting down on indulgences, I couldn't break that 40 gram barrier until one morning I woke up with a very slight nausea. Nothing terrible, very manageable, even ignorable - but I'd recognized that I'd felt that way quite often and so I decided to go a day without sugar. I didn't know sugar was the culprit, but it was certainly on my radar. Anyway, it's been a solid week and I'm happy to report that I've survived! Happily, the cravings were gone pretty much by day 2. Plus, that weird slight nausea - also gone. I had hoped that other strange aches and pains would disappear, but I haven't noticed that improvement yet. This is an experiment, I don't expect to stay on strike forever, but I do hope my experience inspires you to take a look at how much of that sweet evil white stuff you're consuming, and then adjust your health improvement goals. Feel free to send in your experiences!
Sea Turtles! RA-04/22/23
Did you guess Kauai? Hawaii would be correct also! I volunteered for Habitat for Humanity there and crafted half a dozen video promos for them. Links to those 6 videos follow this nice article on their site Impactful Videos Highlight KHfH👍
Sky Blue RA-06/24/20
On a recent nature walk, I came across this happy turtle floating among lavender petals of reflected sky. We are so lucky - we live in that sky!
More Souls RA-06/01/20
The news is laser focused on the destruction, but it seems to me far more souls are interested in harmony, progress, and rebuilding. Here is just a small sample of the folks that showed up with shovels, rakes, brooms, and bags to quietly clean up. By the time I arrived at noon to help out, the mess had already been cleared by the volunteers. And yet, they continued on removing litter from the park and streets. Don't lose faith in humanity. You're a human, too.
Where Do You Stand? RA-05/14/20
I took these two photos in the same city. Above, waiting in line at the local post office. X marks the spot six feet from others. Below, I'm standing at a beautiful point in a lovely nature reserve. In both cases, I'm the same person standing. As we all do our best to deal with the sacrifices this pandemic has forced us all to make, some are standing on the shelter-in-place side, others on the back-to-work side. Both points of view have strong merit. Let's love and appreciate each other, while working together to uncover the powerful creative solutions awaiting our teamwork.
What's Reflecting in Your Eyes? RA-03/22/20
It's a privilege to stay healthy for someone else. What a pleasure to concentrate on exercise, diet, and hygiene. I feel as peaceful as these 3 trees looking out over the reflecting pond. Is the blue in the sky reflecting off my eyes, too? I smile behind the painter's mask, as I stroll along this path. How are you staying healthy for someone else? Are you facetiming old friends and loved ones? Are you dusting off shelved projects? Are you reflecting like the blue sky on this pond? Pondering (as it were) on the preciousness of life, these 3 trees and how we humans are so beautifully intertwined. I've heard that underground their roots tangle in such a way that with the help of nature, when a tree too far from the pond withers, water rushes from one tree to another and reaches the one in need.
Beep Beep! RA-04/11/19
Illustration Text Webdesign Copyright Ross Anthony, Author * Illustrator * Solo World Circumnavigator Privacy policy: I handle the newsletter and alerts myself and I will never sell your email address. Thank Yous: I am so very grateful for all who have supported my writing habit. Thank you to all of my readers. You keep this writer inspired! I greatly appreciate your purchases and especially your thoughtful feedback. Thank you, also, to my illustration clients for entrusting your "brainchildren" to my creative juices. Lastly, I'd like to thank all who have supported my work
directly with their time and talent: Terry Palmer, Rick Foss, Ken Kocanda, Mom and Pops, H. Liem,
J. Keszek, I. Huang, B. Bruya, A. McKeown, M. Ellenstein, R. Ash, Galati-FE, Borders, Rod's Grill.
Links: Write Triangle, Motobookothon 2009, RAnd-author, Terry Palmer, RAnd, Zona Rosa Caffe Pasadena