SPCC A Casa Amarela

When i first though about this project, i though about something really simple:

- everybody should get access to it, without any entry fee, which means if you don't have money it's no problem, i'll be there as long as others, to provide that for you. It doesn't matter your social background, it doesn't matter which is your favorite music style, what's your philosophy of living, etc. So basically, that supports and promotes diversity.

What i didn't thought about it, until the day a certain group of people wanted to start a squat along with me was:

- A community that wants to support diversity and accept anyone needs to have something in common. The word "community" is derived from the Old French communité which is derived from the Latin communitas (cum, "with/together" + munus, "gift"), a broad term for fellowship or organized society. Biologically, community means that you share the same space or environment. With humans can be an intent, beliefs, or whatever you want. In our case, we took something that's pretty simple and natural in human beings: reciprocity. This way, cultural diversity can be supported, because you can observe reciprocity in many cultures.

This ran into my mind because i knew fairly enough by that time, those who were involved in the squatting project. I also knew what were their goals concerning the squat (just living). I also knew pretty well their behavior in a community, and it was lazy and selfish, and they didn't knew or accepted as part of them the concept of reciprocity.
Still, they came to the community and they are part of it. S and O since the beginning, R and I a couple of months later. Why? Besides me and J being the minority we though that maybe they can change and learn, and take something more meaningful (besides food and booze and a place to sleep) from the house, which is one important aspect of this community. The house, being so open, and supporting diversity everybody can change, learn and improve simply by knowing people that are different and see things in another perspective. Well, the conclusion is that we FAILED. Our fears from day 1 were right. My guess is that we failed because of the fucking organizational system we got into, that 3 people had chosen. My guess is that if we had a more utilitarian perspective on our organizational system, as J proposed from day 1 none of the fucking problems we have now would happen. Everybody wants to make decisions in their own lives and in the space where they sleep. If we had that kind of system that pushes you into contributing to the community and in which affects your weight when it comes to decisions and power, everybody would be contributing somehow even if it was just to maintain or secure their "slice of power".

And that is STILL the problem. R, S, O and I don't do SHIT. They are freeloading J, they are using the space and accommodations in which i put a LOT of my effort whit out giving anything back. Why? because everything happens around them without any need to contribute. Because me and J (and now a bunch of our guests) are there to do it. Basically they're abusing the system.

Today R disrespected me in many forms and ways. He is constantly doing the same with our "sharing-contributing-guests". He disrespected the person that defended him from P and M, that was there when S was on cocaine really hard and R, I and O didn't wanted that S disrespected the only rule we have because they were feeling bad and putted in dangerous because they can't handle cocaine or heroin if they're close to it. A big fuck off to that. Plus they take J as a dick an abuse of what he gives. So i am not going to allow them to disrespect me, neither one of my guests, nor i'm going to continue to watch the hypocrite behavior towards J.

Today i booked a meeting, and they failed. (uh..what rebels, like when you're a kid and you skip school or something).

Tomorrow, we're not going to point any meeting, instead just gonna grab them, put them in chairs, like we do with kids, and talk. I'm personally not going to talk much. I'm going to let that part to J and let him be the alpha this time, not only because i'm tired of that bulshit crap of alpha males (which i didn't asked for) but mostly and more important because, he is the start of a chain that makes this house work and also supports their lives with free food, free booze, free dog food, free everything.

<3

Well...apparently, yes, they can!!

Just got two more hitchhikers telling me the others are hitchhiking back here. Madness again. And hopefully, working-madness again.

The last time they were here, one bunker got cleaned and a pool-garden construction started. Also, i got a lot of comments like: "This is amazing", "I'm in love with this place", "This feels like family", so i guess overall we are making it work. I couldn't be happier with the results

I'm just curious to clear out something: Most residents are out (specially the loud ones), only me, J and S) and i wonder if that takes some effect in the house, being helping the house to get to this stage or not.

Now...let's just wait for the 2nd part of the invasion *plays the imperial march*

<3

I uploaded some photos of the making of the solar panels. Soon J will post an article explaining how to make your own solar panel and save some money!

Probably today i'm going to make the last details on the chill out before the INDUSTRIALPT party. Tomorrow i'll add the photos from the chill out too.

<3

Wha..what?

Yesterday at probably 14h or around that we saw 2 police cars plus a normal car in front of our building looking really nervous with their guns up.

2 of them went in forcing the entry, and they went up with their guns pointing everywhere, including us. I just asked "Good afternoon, what's the prpblem?" The cop just asked me really nervous if i saw a naked man, pushing shopping cart with a shot gun. What the fuck?? haha The cop seamed really worried about the naked man and nervous. I told him that we sometimes use the shopping carts to transport big stuff around. I asked my Austrian guests if they were using the shopping carts this morning with a shotgun and they started laughing, because they found a playing gun.

We took the cops downstairs (they were still nervous by this time haha), and the austrian guest showed them this TINY LITTLE playing gun that was BLUE AND GREY!!!! As soon as i saw the gun, i started laughing, because it didn't resemble a shotgun by ANY chance. The look on the cops face was saying "Shit..." all over.

In total they were 8 cops. Funniest moment of the day.

On another note, past two nights were great! We are getting (finally) those laughter and multicultural moments with our traveling guests. Finally the house has the perfect setting to make people comfortable, interested, motivated, available to sharing, etc. Last night they made a camping fire outside. It was cool. Not only we had couchsurfers, but also some kids that live near by, and also Harald joined us with 2 of the 11 babies from China. I am really happy to see that happening again.

JJ did (again) an awesome job with the DIY solar panels. They look pretty neat because he used some transparent acrylic sheets. Also Teddy and Mara have one spare battery from an old car, and they might give us to had to the solar system.

Our questionnaire system is working pretty fine. My austrian guests are really excited and working really hard.

The freeshop is ready. Since we are going to have a party for INDUSTRIALPT in the next 31/07 i'm not going to work on the internet point and the screening place for the movies, because we will need space for the dance floor.

<3

Yeah, the title is cliché, but it's true! Tipping point again!

Problems here is that Punks here are the majority. So they built up a little tribe. That little tribe brought us some consequences:

- They are dirty and messy. I mean REALLY DIRTY AND MESSY. I'm the only idiot that cleans (now with the help of A, our italian guest from CS) J is working his ass of all day to put food on the table, beer, set up energy, plumbing, etc.
- What does a punk does when he is alone or in a group of different people? He puts is headphones and shakes his head to the sound of his music. What does 4 punks do when they are with 2 persons that don't like punk music? They will take over your sound system, put it in max volume. Now imagine how our CS guests feel when they are in this situation where you can't barely hear your thoughts, and every single one of the punks ignores you and continues to speak in portuguese. CS guest is going to feel outcast, and runs to the next internet point to get a new couch if he arrives during the day, because if he arrives during the night, he puts up with it a leaves next morning.
- Only one of the punks doesn't have a dog. I have one. And O and R adopted more two not-house-trained puppies, and they actually don't look after them. That means we have 6 shitting machines with 4 legs each walking around the building. Kikas and Durga, are puppies, as well as the new adopted ones, which means that they shit more, and are still learning to hold themselves. Xunguita and Kaos are bigger, but they sneak out the hosting floor to shit somewhere else. I'm the only idiot reprehending my dog, when she shits inside the building. But...what about the other 5 dogs? Yeah..shit all over the place anyway. Now imagine a soccer player, when he is trying to go through another team player with the ball. Right, that's how you need to walk in these stairs. Every single guests is starting to feel uncomfortable and he's only on the stairs...

In my birthday i cleaned all of the stairs. I said: "It's the last time i'm cleaning this shit alone. When you see shit, pick it up and clean right away!". My b-day was on the 3rd. 10 days after...nothing done. Every single shit on the floor was there, pilling up along with pee. ENOUGH! I cleaned everything with M's help (a guest from north of portugal, that realized what was happening sooner, and changed his behavior).

Punks came "aww we were going to clean that tomorrow". FUCK OFF!!

Next day in the morning, i sat in the living room waiting for everyone to wake up.

I started with something like "Fuck off, i'm not your mom, maid nor this is a hotel". I was rough on them. I had to. I told them that:

- they are lazy, dirty, selfish. Arrogants towards mine or J's guests just because they are not part of the same "tribe".
- they didn't worked a third of what me and J worked for this project and this house, they didn't even helped with the start of it. We are not going to allow them to impose their dirty, messy, and loud lifestyle. Our basic principle here is that you need to RESPECT THAT DUDE THAT IS SITTING NEXT TO YOU AND HIS SPACE. I don't care if they have a fucking pile of shit in their room, as long as it doesn't smell in my room or the communal areas of the house.
- They were all warned in the first day they came what was the project of the house, and how it's managed. They had the choice to not stay with us if they don't agree with these facts.
- They are not allowed to take over the partys with their drunk punk friends, change the fucking music to fucking punk AGAIN, leave it all a mess for me and A to clean up.
- They act like arrogants towards our friends and CS guests, just because they don't have a fucking mohawk and spikes covering their clothes. They ignore them all the time, and make them feel outcasts.
- Dumpster diving is not enough to state reciprocity in their relationship with the community. Dumpster diving it's cool, you can save some money, but the most expensive things like a bottle of 5l of olive oil (8euros) is J that pays, and it last for a week or so. Also, most of the things they are not good to eat when we don't have a fridge.
- They are having this attitude because they have everything for free in this house. If they don't buy food or recycle, J buys it. If there's no booze, J buys it. Goes on with, gas for the stove, internet, electricity (solar system supported by J only) and even DOG FOOD!!! We are on the second bag of 20kgs of dog food, and nobody gave J any money for it and he doesn't have a dog!! So basically they are FUCKING FREELOADING!!!
- If not comfortable with these facts they can always leave. If their behavior doesn't change, they have to find somewhere else to start their own squat. Although i love them, and know that their are great people, we can't allow them to push back the evolution of our project, just "because".

I also asked, before i started the conversation, to everyone if they ever started a squat. Most of them started, but none ended one. That says pretty much everything, at least for me.

In 2h fucking miserable hours, they built the stage they where planning to do for MONTHS. At the same time, they did everything they do everyday: Drink beer and whine, smoke joint, talk and laugh. After that, they thanked me for open up their eyes to their attitude.

I had this conversation with them, along with J, several times. None of them was so rough like this one. This also puts me in a situation that i don't like. I really HATE to do this. I would prefer just to see people acting normal, and working just because i stand up and work everyday, or even better because they want to participate.

Let's see how it goes like this.

<3

I've been away from my blog activity, my netbook...er...fried. Meanwhile, i started again with the chill out. I got up decided to ignore the annoying warmth of our portuguese summer and put my hands to work again.

This time i decided to paint myself the walls. I was waiting for someone (more gifted than me) to paint the walls. But since nobody showed up interested in doing something i though about painting with plain color, perhaps with a dégradé or something to give more life to that level. The idea is to give color (looks much better now) and also to be prepared for somebody to draw something over it. So the chill out is more colorful and still has walls for someone to be creative! Also we have wayyyyy many goods thanks to I and her mom, and J's mom. 2 new couches and a lot of dishes, furniture, books, Vinil cds, uff! Etc... Yeah, moms are still the best even when you're squating a building. I'm also thinking about asking my mom some paintings she already has. She's an awesome artist, check out her tiny web gallery (http://manuelabarros.pt.vu/)

About the freeshop i'm still not sure what to do. A(IT) cleared everything and made a selection of good things that we should keep, and organized the IT area. Still, it looks poor and slovenly, specially compared to the new form of the chill out. I have a design for the freeshop in my head for a long time, the only problem is that i don't have the materials to make it. Let's see if we can bring something up.

I am so, so, so proud of our dry toilet!!! Thank you tori for your help and giving us the drive to do it, finally! It smells good, the floor is not wet anymore. Wonderful.

I also love and am proud of the solar system that J built. Although we need a better battery it's wonderful to be able to get energy without paying for it and without wasting the environment. Never though about living with solar energy, although i always though it was the better way to get energy.

So basically i am really happy to see the house going through the path we designed at first. Also happy to see everyone getting along, laughing, interacting with our CS's much more.

That's all folks

<3

Yesterday we had our first rave!! WOAHAHAHAHHAH!!!!

For the sound system speakers we did a "kinda-mayan" sculpture with Polyurethane. I just LOVED to work with that! It's really easy to work with and the results are awesome. Looking forward to make the other speaker.

After finishing up the details for the barbecue/rave everyone came. The same thing happened. Punk music again. I was really pissed off at the time because everyone was excited with the idea of a rave with some good techno and hardcore and other electronics, but just because one guy (that doesn't even lives in the house) we where all listening to punk again. Andrea, our guest from CS, was going to play some music because I asked him to do it days ago when we where planning the rave, but he was kinda shy to do it, i think because of the punks. It's not about listening to my music. It's just that i respect everyone's space and music and i'm constantly listening to music that i don't like and it's ok, i won't die for it. And the first time i was planning on some party with some electronics nobody gives a shit and they start with the punk again. Fuck, this house is based on respect and diversity, and not in one fucking cultural tribe! There's space for every kind of partys.

After i fell asleep J came to wake me up because the rave was starting! FINALLY!!!!!!!!!! The music was so fucking good, the mood of everyone was so high, that my bad mood went away and i danced and laughed like crazy. Andrea does some awesome choices on the music, it was better then a lot of partys in clubs that i went.

Again, good mood, nothing broken, beer till the next day. This is the proof that we have the right crew now to run this place.

Now we just need some rich kid to upload is guetto system so we can put the cherry on the top of the cake in our sound system and buy the second hand subwoofer and make some more fuckin' RAVES!!

Once that is done, i'm going to contact a friend of mine of En Sof (Trance Party Organizer/Producer) to see if we can make a huge party in the bunkers.

I've uploaded some photos in the gallery!!

That's all folks!!

<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3

Yeah, i think a new era for spcc is starting. CS'ers all over the place, good mood, residents spending more time at home, great parties without broken stuff and beer till the next day (Yes, that's right. It's not a mistake).

Also, thanks to mighty J we have electricity all day. Each room as their own light, so my design works also during the night!!! They remind me of little space ship cells. <3 I'll take a picture today.
Also looks like a summer festival with the variety of "sound systems" going on. "So...Here we have the metal Tent, back there the psy-trance, over there the punk, etc". I love it!

We have two more super-cute canine residents: Durga (my princess) and Kikas (O's princess). They're the daughters of Hexe (which means Witch in german) from Harald. Photos later.

As for the CS business. J, is getting a lot of requests, as usual. I've put up on my CS profile only a picture of the building, and took of my personal pictures, and since then page views are frozen. Wtf? So, in a talk with J, we talked about making an experience: i'm going to upload more personal pictures and choose one of them to be the main picture, and maintain the pictures of the squat, and see what changes. Guess what? Like...40 seconds after i uploaded one fucking picture of my face, one page view came. Man...Let's see how it goes. Going put up some more i guess.

Anyway...

Plans for this week is to finish the damn chill out/free shop. Maybe i'll invite somebody to paint the fucking walls. They need coooolooors!!!!

Happy again (:

<3

P and M are gone, as J said in the last post. It was a hard weekend, specially because the house was starting to bloom, and a hard decision for all of us. I never wanted to reach this point, but it was necessary. They were hurting all of the other residents with the constant fighting and pulling bottles and knifes, all the time for nothing, and our guests were always leaving the place. It opened my eyes when everyone started to claim that they wanted them out of this house. It was really hard because me and J defended them and tried to help them change since we met them. I realized that they can only change and improve with medical help. The sad part is that they are not guilty for what they are and represent right now and they will not look for medical help. More people will need our help and this house's help. And we can't destroy that just because of 2 individuals.

We will continue to open our doors.

Now it's all calm. People are smiling more and working more. I think that's because this event also showed them that this is also their home, where they have something to say and that they can contribute the same way that me (one of the many who started the project) or any other person does.

I also learned more with this situation. Although i had the chance to remember myself of many years ago, which was difficult and something that i didn't wanted, once again i've gain more courage and became stronger, to deal with these situations, which will not end up here, unfortunately.

SPCC will continue to bloom. J is waiting for some confirmations of more CSers. Let's wait for our next guests!

<3

Here are some photos of the progress of the chill out area on level 2.

Before:

After: