DEGREES OF PAIN

A lifetime of lessons — in debt

Consider it a cautionary tale. Michelle Bisutti borrowed $250,000 to pay for medical school, graduating in 2003. But now the debt has grown to $555,000, the result of deferred payments (while she completed her residency), default charges and relentlessly compounding interest rates, the Wall Street Journal reported. Bisutti, a 41-year-old family practitioner in Columbus, Ohio, is on a payment plan that should have the bulk of her student loans paid off in 351 months — when she'll be 70 years old. She said she shared her story “;so the next generation of kids who want to get a higher education knows what they're getting into. I will likely have to deal with this debt for the rest of my life.”;

SONG 'N' DANCE MAN

The Pac-Man cometh

We knew he could box — but sing?

Yes, WBO welterweight boxing champ Manny Pacquiao is quite the multitasker, being named “;Fighter of the Decade”; by winning seven world titles in seven different weight divisions, and, with his MP Band, having two music albums go platinum in the Philippines. The Pac-Man comes March 21 for a music gig at the Waikiki Shell.

AHOY THERE

Pirate ship would be right at home at Disney resort being built at Ko Olina

“;That's what a ship is, you know,

it's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails,

that's what a ship needs.

But what a ship is … really is, is freedom.”;

So intoned Captain Jack Sparrow, he of the motley “;Pirates of the Caribbean”; crew.

Now, the object of his affection, the Black Pearl, has docked at Kalaeloa Barbers Point Harbor, in preparation for the fourth installment of Disney's popular movie series, which starts filming here this summer.

What happens to the well-traveled vessel after filming — it was built in Alabama, then sailed to the Bahamas then Los Angeles — is being kept mum, though one state official said “;our hope is that the ship will stay in Hawaii.”; Well, there is that Disney resort and oceanfront project under way at Ko Olina, scheduled to open next year …