Inspired by Dave Fleet — and because it’s the holidays and I’m not ashamed to be too busy having fun to create original content — here are my top sixteen posts on i tell stories of 2008. (Yes, sixteen. Twelve wasn’t enough.)

These aren’t necessarily the most visited or commented-on posts; these are the ones that I like best.

You may agree, you may not agree. I’d encourage you to take a look through the archives if you’ve got some time. Tell me if I forgot something that really should have made this list.

Are Toronto students scared to go to school? (January 12)

The report released yesterday stated that there was an abundance of guns in our city’s public schools, that sexual assault and harassment is widespread, and that some schools are breeding grounds for gang violence. Color me naive, but apart from a few incidents that I knew of growing up, these kinds of concerns didn’t cross my mind when I was going to public school in Toronto.

One day, Heath Ledger made me smile (January 23)

At 28, Heath Ledger was much too young to die: he had enormous amounts of untapped potential. Most people will miss him because of his proven acting talent. I will miss him because he reminded me to take advantage of my own talent and potential.

Love Letter Writers Anonymous (February 14)

I write love letters because I fall in love every day. Yesterday, I wrote a love letter on the back of a napkin to the waitress that smiled at me as she brought me my lunch. Last week, I wrote a love letter in chalk on the lamppost that broke my fall after I slipped on the ice. Just this morning, I wrote a love letter to the woman who answered my tech support call — and then read it aloud to her.

No one hears you when you say you’re sick of traveling (March 25)

No one hears you when you say you’re sick of traveling. Sick of traveling: three words that make sense to people separately, but not in sequence. And they’re right — what am I talking about? What about being treated to fancy dinners at over-priced restaurants? And staying at hotels I could normally never afford? And watching rugby in crowded and rowdy bars? And having a choice of various kinds of bottles of water at ever meal?

Really achieving my childhood dreams (April 22)

The scary thing I need to admit now is that the mind of Sameer Vasta at the age of thirteen isn’t much different from the mind of Sameer Vasta at age twenty-six.

Sleep: everybody does it, nobody admits it (May 7)

If you think about it, people who “don’t have enough time” to sleep a healthy amount are not the productivity machines we assume them to be. Instead, they’re just bad at time management.

I call my mom every day (May 11)

So today, on Mother’s Day, and every day after this, I’m not going thank my mom for everything she has done for me. It just wouldn’t be enough. Instead, I’m going to show her the fruits of her labor; I’m going to prove to her that her hard work raising me resulted in a son that reflects the goodness and compassion that she emanates every day.

The librarian is dead. Long live the librarian. (June 24)

If I can get good, extensive, and personalized information in a few seconds using the internet, what good is the librarian?

Wall·E: Simply Lovely (June 30)

We, as humans or as robots, need to be reminded that we are not alone, that there is someone out there that wants to dance and watch Hello, Dolly with us on our iPods.

Live with your parents. Seriously. (July 21)

I’m going to take this opportunity to share some advice I’ve been giving all my friends for years: live with your parents and pay off your debt.

Anti-social. (August 19)

Cinema-going is not a task that can be done effectively with others. Far from it. Going to watch a film (especially a good one) is an activity best pursued alone and independently.

Paris, je t’aime (October 6)

So there I was — with my tired and cold English, my rusty French, and my broken Spanish — standing in the middle of the intersection, luggage in tow, surrounded by three men who could only speak to one another through me.

Where I come clean and admit that I’m a sucker for a good love story. (November 8)

It’s impossible not to be completely enamored with the whole concept of marriage: that two people can feel so strongly drawn to each other that they are willing to devote themselves to each other for life — or at least try to do just that. There’s so much beauty in that whole idea that I’m tearing up just writing about it now.

Rubbish. (December 2)

We throw valuable information away every second. Not all the information we receive will lead to great discoveries, but every piece of information that comes our way has the possibility to teach us new and exciting things if we just take it in instead of throwing it away.

The Bill Murray Effect. (December 3)

Like Bill Murray, many consultants charge high rates to clients that can support those rates so that they can use some of their other time to evangelize for their passions like transit or the open web.

Grown Up. (December 9)

Fifteen stories below my window, a young boy reaches down to pick up a handful of greyish-white powder off the ground and comes up with a mitten-full of densely-packed snow. He cups his other mitten over the pile in his hand in an attempt to form a vaguely-spherical snowball ready to be thrown at the young girl in front of him.

And that’s my list for the year. What were your favorite posts from around the web that made you smile this year?