Well yes, there is a reasonable chance my 8-year-old provisional rating actually is below my playing strength. If it is, I will hopefully be able to prove it eventually. I did NOT prove it over the board this past week, though, and I was mainly commenting on the thought process that falsely makes it feel like I did.
I hope to find (or create, see the chess club thread) an opportunity to play some rated games, and see if I can bring that rating up. That's tangential to the point of my last post though