Cycle 15 – Item 1
Post 5,114
6 (Sat) January 2024
Dweiji Galbi
3.0
by me
-Changgok, Sujeong, Seongnam, Gyeonggi, Republic of Korea-
To kick off Cycle 15, I made a special effort to eat dweji galbi for dinner, which seems like a GMTD tradition, even though it really isn’t. Cycle 1 started (see 1.001 Grilled Pork Galbi) and ended with the dish (see 1.365 Dweji Galbi). Cycle 3 did so (see 3.001 Dweji Galbi). Then a completely random assortment of things until Cycle 12 (see 12.001 Dewiji Galbi) and Cycle 13 (see 13.001 Mul Naeng Myeon). At the start of Cycle 14 last year, I’d declared: “the tradition of starting a new cycle with a meal of Korean grilled pork shall henceforth be replaced with Korean fried chicken” (see 14.001 Tong Dak), but completely forgot to follow the new tradition this time. Whatever ends up being the final year of GMTD, that final post will be dweji galbi.
Prior comments concerning the demise of GMTD:
- Cycle 5: “For several reasons, I had contemplated shutting it down. But then, the reasons in favor of continuation won out. I suppose that, now, I’ll just have to maintain the blog through Cycle 8” (see 5.001 Galbi Tang).
- Cycle 9: “I’ve always maintained that I would wrap GMTD at the conclusion of a cycle divisible by the number four – four being my favorite number. Now that I’ve launched Cycle 9, I suppose that I’m locked in until Cycle 12” (see 9.001 Spaghetti Florentine).
- Cycle 11: “This is the first post of what I anticipate will be the penultimate cycle of GMTD – including today, just 731 posts left to go” (see 11.001 Tofu Salad)
- Cycle 12: “Previously, I had declared my intent to wrap GMTD at the end of this year. But we’ll see. Anyway, I look forward to at least 364 posts more posts” (see 12.001 Dweji Galbi).
- Cycle 13: “I’m continuing GMTD, indefinitely. It’ll end when it ends – no more teases along the way. Over 12 cycles, I’ve used 33% of my upload limit, so I should have enough capacity through Cycle 36” (see 13.001 Mul Naeng Myeon).
- Cycle 14: “In my current state of mind, I am thinking that Cycle 16 will be the final one. I’ve always hoped to end on a denomination of 4 (my favorite base number). By the end of Cycle 16, DJ will (hopefully) have graduated high school and entered college. That’d be a nice way to wrap. Then again, that would leave IZ hanging in Grade 8. To see him through college, I’d have to keep the blog going through Cycle 21 – not a denomination of 4, but a nice number (black jack!)” (see 14.001 Tong Dak).
As of now, I’m still thinking Cycle 16 will be it. But as history has shown, I am completely unreliable. Upon completing 4 cycles, then 8 cycles, then 12 cycles, I’ve always found justification to keep going. I’d declared at the start of Cycle 13 never to predict when the blog would end, then promptly made a prediction the following year. So we’ll see.
A total of 13,231 views last year (up from 10,938 in Cycle 13).
8,618 visitors (up from 6,061 in Cycle 13).
Top 10 countries: USA, Philippines, Canada, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Indonesia, United Kingdom, Sweden, Germany, Australia.
Only 2 posts from Cycle 14 were viewed more than 10 times each (see 14.309 Jalapeño Cheddar Double Smash Cheeseburger; 14.088 Bun Hai San), which tells me that nobody is regularly reading the blog, all views the result of random searches.
Case in point, the milk taste test post was the most viewed at 274 (and remains the all-time most viewed at 896) (see 12.122 Taste Test: Korean Milk).
(See HANSIK)
(See RESTAURANTS IN KOREA)