It’s been a tough week for everyone, myself included.

So, here are some pandas:

Courtesy of I Can Has Cheezburger.

What? You haven’t heard of this site? Go. Go now.

When I graduated from college, I did not feel prepared for the real world.

Given, I graduated from a small, liberal arts school that didn’t really offer degrees in anything useful (I’m a Political Science and Chinese double major) and which was situated smack dab in the middle of nowhere, meaning doing an internship or finding a job outside school when classes were in session was almost out of the question.

Now, a national commission has released the results of a survey of 301 business leaders nationwide that suggests that colleges find ways to assess students’ ability to apply what they have learned in college to real-world settings.

Those surveyed wanted to see more faculty assessments of internships, senior projects or community-based work. They also want graduates to possess more “global knowledge,” although I’m not sure how that is defined.

In an overview, the survey notes that

(e)mployers are satisfied that the majority of college graduates who apply for positions at their companies possess a range of skills that prepare them for success in entry-level positions, but they are notably less confident that graduates are prepared for advancement or promotion. While recent graduates are seen to demonstrate solid skills in the areas of teamwork, ethical judgment, and intercultural skills, employers are less convinced of their preparedness in terms of global knowledge, self-direction, and writing.

Some interesting details, picked up in the USA Today article:

•57% said half or fewer of today’s college graduates have the full set of skills and knowledge necessary to advance in today’s workplace.

And though most say graduates are reasonably well-prepared in a variety of areas, they are not exceptionally strong in any.

•40% said a faculty supervisor’s assessment of a student’s internship in a real-world setting would be “very useful.”

•14% said a score showing how an applicant’s college compares with others in advancing students’ critical-thinking skills would be “very useful.”

•13% said college transcripts are “very useful.”

•6% said an applicant’s score on a multiple-choice test of general content knowledge would be “very useful.”

This builds off a survey conducted last year in which business leaders said 67 percent of graduates are not prepared for the global economy.

I always thought that if I had graduated with a degree in something like Accounting or Engineering, which are less romantic but more practical than Political Science, I might be better equipped to deal with the real world after graduation. At least I would know what path to take, rather than bouncing around for a while until I finally found something I was interested in.

The fact that business leaders want today’s college grads to possess more global knowledge is not surprising. Hello, globalization. (Goodbye, jobs to India and China.)

But what about putting an emphasis on work experience during college? Should college grads be worrying more about internships and community service projects than grades?

How well do you feel your school prepared you to enter the real world?

Good news for some Americans following the election from outside the United States.

For the first time, expatriate Democrats will be able to cast their ballots online in a presidential primary for US residents living overseas, according to the Associated Press.

The global presidential primary is being coordinated by Democrats Abroad, an official branch of the Democratic Party that represents voters overseas.

Ex-pats will be able to select their candidate by Internet, fax, mail or in person at polling places in more than 100 countries from Feb. 5 to 12. Traditional drop-in voting centers will be set up in more than 30 countries.

The online option in the primary offers a chance to participate to Americans who might not ordinarily take part due to heavy paperwork, unreliable foreign mail service or other complications in their host country. According to the AP:

Some 6 million Americans living abroad are eligible to vote in U.S. elections, but only a fraction do so. Until recently, the only option was to mail absentee-ballot request forms to the last U.S. county of residence.

The system is so unreliable that of 992,034 ballots requested from overseas for the 2006 general election, only 330,000 were cast or counted, and 70 percent of those not counted were returned to elections officials as undeliverable, the U.S. Election Assistance Commission found.

The worldwide election results will determine 14 of 22 delegates in Democrats Abroad’s delegation to the Democratic National Convention on Aug. 25 to 28, where they’ll take part in nominating and confirming a Democratic presidential candidate and VP, and help shape the party’s platform.

Online voting is a popular but controversial idea because of the potential for fraud. The online voting in the overseas primary is being conducted by San Diego-based Everyone Counts Inc., which assigns each individual a personal ID number which they then use to log in and cast their ballots.

Republicans Abroad operates independently of the Republican Party and is therefore unable to hold in-person or Internet votes abroad, the AP said.

If it works, 6 million overseas voters will get a chance to have an impact on the election. As they’re the ones who are perhaps most familiar with how America is viewed by the rest of the world, and how US foreign policy is working (or not working) out there, it will be interesting to see what they have to say.

News sources are reporting the death of 28-year-old actor Heath Ledger, who most recently won acclaim for his role in “Brokeback Mountain” and was nominated for an Oscar.

According to the New York Times at 4:24 p.m. HST today:

The police said Mr. Ledger, 28, was discovered facedown in bed in an apartment at 421 Broome Street in SoHo. Police officials said that a bottle of prescription sleeping pills were found on a nearby night table, but that they did not know whether they played a role in Mr. Ledger’s death.

Mr. Ledger, the star of “Brokeback Mountain” and other films, was discovered by a housekeeper and a masseuse, the police said. The housekeeper had been in the apartment for some time before Mr. Ledger’s body was discovered, and she let the masseuse in when she at the apartment for a 3:31 p.m. appointment with Mr. Ledger, the police said. They said they did not know when Mr. Ledger scheduled the appointment.

When Mr. Ledger did not respond to a knock on the bedroom door, the housekeeper and the masseuse opened the bedroom and found Mr. Ledger unconscious. They shook him, but he did not respond. They immediately called the authorities and moved Mr. Ledger to the floor, the police said.

“There was no indication of a disturbance,” Deputy Police Commissioner Paul J. Browne said. He said officers who checked the apartment found other prescription medications it in the bathroom. He said that there was no sign that Mr. Ledger had been drinking and that no illegal drugs were found in the apartment.

When I wrote yesterday about the AP preparing an obituary for Britney Spears because of her unusual behavior, I had no idea that we’d so soon have an example of another young star meeting an untimely end.

Contrary to Spears and other young celebs, however, Ledger did not appear to love the spotlight or lead a particularly risky lifestyle.

Ledger’s death is bound to create a stir because of his age and his celebrity status. Anybody have thoughts?

When the idea of this blog first came up, it was suggested that, among other things, I would write about dating.

Well, that idea was quickly put to rest.

Until now. Actually, I wanted to talk about a certain conundrum facing twenty somethings in particular as we find ourselves fresh out of college and preparing to enter the real working world. And, yes, it has to do with relationships. Or rather, starting them.

A few weeks ago, following a conversation about this topic, a friend sent me an email:

“Your question about finding it difficult to meet people now…revise that to be ‘meet quality people’ and the answer is a resounding ‘yes,’” he wrote.

Single, out-of-college, early-to-mid twenty year olds sit at an awkward crux of the dating world. Having left college, we are no longer surrounded by a cohort of boundless single, like-minded individuals of shared affinities and aspirations. But, we are not yet at the point of desperation that would necessitate online dating and other “well-intentioned, but thrown in the towel”-type dating services. Which leaves them in the middle of the two awkwardly treading through the “social scene.”

He managed to hit on a big issue for the average quarter-lifer: meeting “quality” people out of college.

At this point in my life, my friends are pretty much either single or in long-term, soon-to-be-married-but-still-denying-it types of relationships. The only ones who are actually dating are in graduate school, which is the same concept as college: an abundance of like-minded people and the existence of situations where you can actually get to know someone without having to shout at them over blasting music.

I’d also argue that as far as meeting people, Hawaii’s social scene is pretty limited. Maybe Kawehi, the Advertiser’s entertainment writer, can point me in the right direction, but I was never that big on clubs, as it seems that on the dance floor, guys can’t even be bothered with conversation anymore.

Honolulu’s trendy bars are like clubs anyway, and — again — have the same blasting music problem. And I think we should just cross dive bars off the list without getting into the specifics.

There’s also the problem of the people you meet if you do ever venture out there to Chinatown or Waikiki on a weekend. Most of my friends work good jobs and are looking to meet a mate who is gainfully employed, or at least has solid plans to be in the near future. They’re not eager to meet someone whose biggest commitment right now is going to clubs and getting wasted five nights a week.

Unfortunately, BECAUSE my friends are all working full time, most are too exhausted to do the club or bar scene after work, and I suspect that’s not unusual. So, if few of the gainfully employed singles are going to clubs, then what are the odds of actually meeting one there?

Where does that leave us. Concerts, yes, lots of young people there but again — same loud music problem. Co-workers? Most often turns out messy. Bowling alley? Hey, it works for some people. The beach? That just adds to the layer called ‘physical attractiveness’ which only further complicates the situation.

Part of the trauma of quarter life is being tossed out there, away from your dorms and roommates, away from the comfortable routine of homework and grades, and into the real world, where you feel, well, just a little alone.

What’s a twenty something to do?