Well whadya know! I went from 8.0 to 8.4 pretty quickly, but it took me about 6 months to go from 8.4 to 8.5. apparently it only goes up 1/10 of a point after every 125,000 points at that level. So that solves the mystery for me. If I don't die in the next two years or so, I just might make it to Level 9 and win that pony. I never got the t-shirt at Level 8, but I can dream.