tiring emotional ethics questions

In the middle of a bunch of other unremembered story lines last night, I was approached by an older Chinese guy. I wasn't sure what he wanted, and didn't really want to talk to him because it seemed like he just wanted to hit me up for money. He was persistent, though, and started telling me his story. Apparently he had made a fortune very rapidly with some kind of business venture. This story was accompanied by images of wild, extravagant parties held at his house, with some really interesting details that I can't remember now. His fortune had reversed and he was now destitute, which was why he had approached me in the first place. This provoked wildly mixed feelings in me. I had been annoyed at the imposition (I'm always bothered in real life by a random person trying to sell me something or request something). Now I was a little repentant at having been annoyed, and a little impressed with his story, which was pretty poignant. At the same time, I was mad at myself because I was pretty sure there was an element of bourgeois wannabe awe: that now, knowing that he had been insanely rich and well-connected, I wanted to be connected with him and wished I could back-pedal to react more positively.

scientific ethics

I've finally remembered something I dreamed. Just before I woke up this morning, I dreamed that I was back in school. My mother was urging me to take a class on "scientific ethics". She was really adamant that I take it, and I was somewhat insulted that she should think I was in such dire need of a class on ethics, scientific or otherwise.

Another element of the dream was that my sister was a fledgling lawyer. As one of her first big projects (sort of a thesis/internship project), she had focused on infringement of intellectual property rights in high fashion. She had produced a really nice, glossy booklet with illustrations of the original side by side with the imitation (the imitations as well as the originals had all been done by high-profile designers--or at least they were high-profile in my dream--which really surprised me). There were little mini-biographies of the designers too, and the whole thing was very detailed. It was an interesting twist on my periodic clothing-oriented dreams--I guess having watched Project Runway the night before expanded my clothing-dream repertory.