ET's Info-Stew

It is often said that aviation accidents happen as a result of a chain of errors, not just a single failure. Tonight, Jenny and I were going to make a night flight down to the Monterey Bay area and back. The entire day there was error after error, yet the flight was still on track despite my being nervous about it. It was only when we got to the plane and it hadn't been re-fueled that I finally called it off. Here is a summary of the negative chain of events:

1. Urge to maintain night currency.
2. Planned on a night flight to an unfamiliar airport.
3. Planned on using unfamiliar airspace transition procedures.
4. Went back and forth between flight plans that did and did not transition San Jose airspace.
5. Changed destination from Watsonville to Salinas airport for distance considerations.
6. Frequently changed my plan from doing something simple like Modesto to doing something complex like Salinas.
7. Final flight plan was more of a "wing it" plan, using GPS and radar services only.
8. Left the house without having done a complete weather briefing.
9. Left the house without having got my GPS all set up.
10. Felt a very small bit of lightheadedness on the drive to the airport due in part to my lack of food and water.
11. Jenny started getting a significant headache on the drive over, though she didn't tell me until after the flight was scrubbed.
12. At the airport, nobody was at the desk, so I would have to take the plane without checking out. I also wanted to purchase an updated VFR Terminal Chart and get the code to enter through the gate after hours, but was unable to do either.
13. Got hung up on by 1 800-WX-BRIEF twice trying to get a briefing, so I gave up trying.
14. Noticed that A/FD said Hayward airport would be closed at 0100Z, 6:00pm local (even though it wasn't closed). This would have affected my ability to ask Clearance Delivery for a squawk code before takeoff, as I had planned.
15. Hayward ATIS mentioned severe turbulence reported in some areas below 6,000 feet.
16. 30 minutes before the flight, I decided to make the simple flight to Modesto.
17. On the walk to the plane, at the last minute, I decided to make the complex flight to Salinas.
18. I didn't realize that I hadn't studied the Salinas airport until just now as I write this.
19. Got to the plane and saw it hadn't been refueled.

This is a heck of a list of errors. How did I get this far? How could I have improved this? First would have been to plan the flight out well in advance, instead of just today. I realize that it is very important to plan out an unfamiliar flight in detail first, not heavily relying upon ATC and GPS. Second would have been to do the learning part of this flight, transitioning class C airspace, landing at unfamiliar airports, and maintaining night currency, on different flights. I was most nervous about the class C transition because I didn't have a solid plan as to what I would do if they didn't give me vectors through, or worse didn't allow me to enter the class C airspace. Third would have been to perform a thorough weather analysis. Fourth would have been for me to familiarize myself with the night procedures of California Airways well before the flight.