I’m Dylan Sears, but to Reimer and many others, I’m known as “Thrillin”. I’ve known Chris as far back as 2002, when we started hanging out together in high school. I was pretty much a total spaz during those days, and friends were hard to come by for me. It wasn’t until I knew the Flegels, Reimer, and company that I knew I had found my tribe. In the reckless days of our youth, Reimer, much like rest of the gang of us idiots, were prone to madcap adventures. As I write this, one comes to mind.
In the summer of 2003, Veritas was on the bill at Broken City for a CJSW fundraising event. The whole show was a clusterfuck, with maybe over 15 bands performing 20 minute sets. While the guys were preparing, and I was doublefisting beers, they got told their set was cut due to time constraints. When I found out about this, I was outraged in the only way an unscarred liver dealing with 77 cc of alcohol would let me: overtly. Luckily, in my fit of rage, I comprehended the other news that they were setting up in the back alley behind the bar and playing regardless! Well I booked it out of there, and headed to the back to see and hear exactly that.
The whole idea was reckless; it was stupid; it was the best part of the whole damn show! People walking by came into the alleyway out of sheer curiosity; they were watching from windows and rooftops next door. For a few moments, everything was chaotic bliss. That is, until the owner/manager/whoever shut them off before they got hit with a million noise violations. Afterwards, we got everything dismantled, packed, and vacated in mere minutes. They got banned for years!
Over the years, we’ve seen each other less often as is common with the passage of time, but I’ve always considered myself fortunate every time I ran into him. The memory of seeing him two months ago is still fresh in my mind, even though it seems like a millennium ago simultaneously. We became different people, but somehow, stayed the same. Now I’m just glad I got one more time.
Later, dude. It’s been a “Thrill”.
christopher john joseph reimer 
Dylan,
Thank you so much for this memory. I was one of the passers-by who came upon Veritas playing out back just blocks from my apartment and after all these years it’s nice to hear someone else’s perspective. I can’t count how many people I used to tell this story. More importantly, I fell in love with Veritas that night and still listen to them regularly.
R.I.P. Chris…