Due to family circumstances I have decided to cancel foreign conference-going for the summer, and do you know what? It doesn't seem to have affected my life negatively whatsoever, and no one seems to have even noticed. Makes me think that a lot of conferences are quite frankly unnecessary. Maybe now I might have time to actually write my ideas down so that people can actually read them ... (not forgetting the extra time that I will have learning how to be locally placed in relationships with people I could know better).